Hunted
by babylove969
Summary: Full Summary Inside: Someone has been hunting Deeks for years, but he hasn't told anyone. Now when he goes missing the team has to try and figure out not only the clues that Deeks left, but who this mystery person is. The team comes to discover that they may not know Deeks as well as they thought they did.
1. Chapter 1

_**Summary: Monty gets sick and that triggers events that no one saw coming. Deeks has a huge secret that he had kept from the team and LAPD. Now his life depends on how well the team knows him. It's a race against the clock to get Deeks back to them before they lose him forever.**_

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Chapter 1

It was just after ten thirty in the morning when Deeks had finally pulled into the parking lot of NCIS. He had been up all night looking after Monty. Finally this morning at eight he took Monty to the animal hospital to get him looked at. He had been fine all day and then when Deeks was going to bed Monty started to throw up. As the night went on he got sicker and sicker so finally when the animal hospital was open Deeks put Monty in his car and drove him there. He had spent the last two and a half hours there with Monty as the doctors looked him over. They decided to keep him and run some tests. They were going to check his blood to see if he had an infection or if something else was wrong. Deeks had had Monty for close to six years. Deeks had trained him as a bomb dog. Monty had gone on operations with him when he went undercover; Monty had saved his life on a few occasions. After everything with Sidorov Monty had been there for him when he needed to spend the night sitting on the beach. Monty had been there when the nightmares got to the extreme and he needed a hug. Monty had been there to keep him company and gave him a reason to keep going each day. Now he was sick and Deeks was terrified that Monty wasn't going to make it.

Deeks let out a sigh. He knew that he was going to hear about being late, but he was hoping they would give him a break. Monty meant a lot to him and he didn't want to lose him now. Deeks got out of his car and headed inside. He was exhausted from being up all night and from being worried. He knew he wouldn't be able to sleep until he knew that Monty was alright and healthy again. Deeks walked into the bullpen and sure enough everyone's head snapped up as they heard someone coming. Deeks was still in the same clothes that he was wearing yesterday and he knew they would get the wrong impression. He really didn't want Kensi to get the wrong impression. Things between them had been a little awkward. After her rescue she had to stay desk bound for a few weeks. She was back to field work, but they have yet to bring up the fact that they had sex before she left. Deeks didn't know where they stood, if they were together, partners, friends or all three. Deeks didn't push, because that was his thing, but that didn't mean he didn't love her. That didn't mean that Deeks wasn't waiting to see where she saw them before he ever thought about someone else.

"Well, well, well, look who finally decided to come in. I hope she was worth it." Sam said with a smirk.

Deeks put his bag down on his desk and headed over to the coffee.

"It's not like that Sam." Deeks said with exhaustion in his voice.

"Whatever you say Deeks." Sam said with a smile.

Deeks walked back with his coffee. He saw that Kensi didn't look happy, she looked hurt and clearly she thought the same thing that Sam did.

"Deeks, you're entitled to a personal life, but you can't let your personal life or relationships interfere with your work." Callen said with a smile.

Deeks sat down in his chair with a sigh.

"Monty is sick. I've been up all night with him. I just spent the last two and a half hours in the animal hospital with him." Deeks said with tiredness and sadness to his voice.

Kensi's expression changed at hearing that Monty was sick and the reason why Deeks was late and looking like hell.

"Is he okay?" Kensi asked with concern.

"I don't know. They admitted him and are taking blood work to see if he has an infection or something."

"Was he sick all day?" Sam asked. He didn't like Monty, but he had grown on him and Sam knew how much Deeks cared about Monty.

"No he was fine all day while I was at work. It wasn't until around eleven that he started to throw up. By the time the animal hospital opened he could barely lift his head."

"How old is Monty?" Callen asked.

"He's eight years old; I've had him for six." Deeks answered.

"You had him? I thought he was a police dog?" Sam asked.

"He is. I was undercover six years ago as a homeless man and I found him. He was on the streets as a stray and when I finished my operation I took him home with me. I trained him to sniff out bombs. He was placed in the bomb squad unit on the occasion when he wasn't doing undercover operations with me. He's been on thirty-three operations with me. He's saved my life five times. He's also been responsible for finding sixty-three bombs. He's had a good career."

"When did he get puppy stress disorder?" Sam asked with a smile.

"Bomb squad is very stressful. Monty is a sensitive dog."

"Is he going to be okay?" Callen asked.

"I hope so. They don't know what's wrong and he won't even drink water. They have him hooked up to an I.V to try and keep him hydrated. They are going to call me when they have the blood work results."

"I'm sure he'll be okay." Kensi said.

"Ya I hope so." Deeks said.

"Well we don't have a case yet. We're just catching up on paperwork. If you want you can take the day off to be with Monty." Callen said.

"No it's fine. I can't be in the room with him. I'd rather be here doing something then sitting in a waiting room counting the floor tiles. Thanks though."

"The offer is there if you need it." Callen said.

Deeks pulled out a file and got started on his paperwork. It wasn't until one in the afternoon, did his phone finally ring. Deeks noticed that it was the animal hospital and he answered the phone.

"Hello"

"Is this Detective Deeks?"

"Yes it is."

"Detective, can you hold for the Veterinarian please?"

"Of course."

Deeks could hear the elevator hold music in the background for a few minutes before the Vet came on the line.

"Detective, are you there?" The female Vet asked.

"Yes I am. Did you find out what is making Monty sick?"

"I have. As you know we took some blood work and I have the results of it back. Detective, Monty has Tetrahydrozline in his system."

"I'm sorry I have no idea what that is."

"It's a chemical that is very dangerous to animals and humans should they ingest it. It's most common use is in eye drops. It's a chemical to help with pink eye and such."

"I don't have eye drops in my house. That doesn't make any sense."

"I'm not sure how Monty ingested it. I can tell you it was a large amount. If you hadn't brought him in when you did he would have been too far gone for us to do anything. I'm only a Vet, I can't tell you how it happened; I can tell you that with that large of amount it wasn't an accident."

"Are you saying he was poisoned?"

That got Sam, Callen and Kensi's attention. They all looked at each other and back to Deeks as he finished his phone call.

"Yes I am."

"That doesn't make any sense he's not around anyone. He's been eating the same food that he's eaten for nine years. It's not even a new bag of food."

"Like I said I can't tell you how it got into his system. I can tell you that it would have taken three to four hours after he ingested it before he started to get sick."

"Um… is he going to be okay?"

"He'll be fine. I have him on a strong medicine right now to clear out his system. He should make a full recovery. I would like to keep him for a few days though to make sure he's fine."

"Okay I'll come by after work and see him. Thank-you."

"You're welcome Detective."

Deeks hung up his phone and he could see everyone watching him waiting for him to explain. Kensi spoke first.

"Monty was poisoned?"

"Apparently with some chemical that is typically found in eye drops. Some long t name."

"Tetrahydrozline" Kensi said.

"Ya that would be the one. This doesn't make any sense. Monty wouldn't have come in contact with that." Deeks stated.

"What did you do yesterday?" Sam asked.

"I got up; we went for a run on the beach like we do every morning and before you ask yes we go a different route each day Sam. We got back and I fed him breakfast while I got ready for work. Then I left and came home after work. I gave him dinner then that was it. At eleven he started to get sick. The Vet said he had to ingest the poison three to four hours before he got sick. So his food or water must have made him sick. Like I said though, it's not a new bag. He's been eating it all week without a problem."

"What about the water?" Callen asked.

"Its' tap water and I drink it two. I would have been sick."

"When you go for a run, you lock your door?" Sam asked.

"Of course."

"Could someone get in?" Kensi asked.

"I lock all my doors and windows when I leave for work. I do it every day."

"If someone picked the lock would Monty bark?" Sam asked.

"Depends on who it is. Monty is a police dog if the person came in wearing a uniform or he knows the person he wouldn't bark. If the person is someone he doesn't know out of a uniform he'll bark and attack."

"So let's go check out your place. See if anyone came in. We can take a sample of the food and water just in case." Kensi said.

"Seems a little extreme for a sick dog; even if you do love him. It's probably something wrong with the food from the factory. If it was the tap water I would be sick and so would my whole area." Deeks said.

"First off, Monty is an honorary member of the team after he found that bomb. Second of all, if someone is targeting you, poisoning Monty could be just the start. You don't know how Monty got poisoned and if it didn't come from some factory mishap you could be in danger." Callen said.

"I think you are blowing this out of proportion. If it will make you feel better I will go and look." Deeks said.

Deeks had already been planning on looking after work. Deeks didn't want anyone to know, mostly because he couldn't talk about much of it, but he was worried that this was an attack on him. Take out Monty and this person could easily come in when Deeks wasn't home or sleeping without Monty being on guard. Deeks got up, but so did Callen, Sam and Kensi.

"Really? We all need to go?" Deeks said lightly. He didn't want the others to make a big deal out of this. For right now he was just hoping something went wrong at the manufacturers.

"Yes we all need to go. If this was intentional we need to make sure everything is fine." Sam said in a serious voice.

"Fine, but for the record you are all over reacting." Deeks said as he grabbed his keys and phone.

"Going somewhere?" Hetty asked as she walked over to them.

"We're going to Deeks' place to check it out." Sam said.

"Why?" Hetty asked.

"Monty was poisoned and these guys are overreacting." Deeks said with a smile.

"He was poisoned by eye drops. Someone put it in his food or on one of his toys." Kensi said.

"It could be a simple manufacturing issue. I would know if someone broke into my house. Plus if they could poison someone why not put the eye drops in my milk or food. Why go through all that trouble to poison a dog?" Deeks said.

"Mr. Deeks does have a point. However, check it out anyways just to be on the safe side. This team has been through enough, I don't want any more surprises to come up." Hetty said.

"We won't be long Hetty." Callen said.

"Be careful." Hetty said.

"We will." Sam said.

The four of them headed out to their cars, Deeks and Kensi in his and Sam and Callen in Sam's. They all drove off to Deeks' apartment to check and make sure that everything was fine. Deeks didn't say much on the way over. His mind was going a mile a minute. It wasn't that he didn't want to tell the team everything; it was that he couldn't tell the team. He couldn't tell Kensi. She was the one that was going to be pissed off the most. Deeks had known that something would happen one day. He had been keeping track of everything over the years. He had set the stage like dominos if something ever did happen. All the team had to do was follow his clues and they would get to the bottom of it. The problem was they could easily not see the clues, they could not go looking for them and then it would all be pointless. Deeks knew he was going to have to step it up again. He was going to have to be on the alert. Whoever it was that had been tracking and stalking him for these last ten years might actually be tired of waiting.

It had been ten years that Deeks was aware of someone following him. Someone was out there watching him and stalking him. Deeks didn't know who it was; he had never seen his or her face. The only reason he even knew he was being watched were the photos that were left in his mailbox whenever he moved. He still to this day gets photos of him a few times a year. No one knew the whole story; no one knew that to this day he still gets photos. Deeks didn't even know when it first started to happen or how it started. He did know that if he ever saw the person he would know them. Deeks was confident it had something to do with his past, whether that is his childhood or his career. Deeks did know that someone had dedicated ten years or more to stalking him. This person wasn't going to sit around forever and Deeks knew this person would have just been buying his or her time until they were ready. Deeks was praying this was just some manufacturing problem and not that his stalker was now ready for more than just pictures. The pictures were disturbing as it was. They started out with simple things, just shots of him being on the beach, walking Monty, going to his car, simple things like that. Then four years ago they started to become more graphic, they were photo shopped with him being covered in blood. Him being killed in different ways; in different places. The pictures became far more violent and they were disturbing. Deeks shook his head to clear his thoughts and the images from his mind. He couldn't be thinking like that right now, he needed to focus and make sure the team doesn't sense that something is off with him.

They pulled up to Deeks' apartment and they got out of the car. Sam and Callen pulled up a few moments later.

"You okay? You were quiet on the drive over." Kensi said.

"Ya just worried about Monty. I know he's just a dog to some people, but he's like my partner. We've been through a lot together."

"I get that. Monty has been there through a lot of horrible operations and days you've had when you weren't with NCIS. I can understand why you're upset over this. I'm upset over it two. Monty has wormed his way into my heart. I hope he's okay."

"Ya me two." Deeks said as Callen and Sam made their way over to them.

"We going in or standing here all day?" Sam asked with a smirk.

"Well if we're gonna stand somewhere all day I suggest we stand a mile down the road. At least we'll be on the beach." Deeks joked.

"You are such a beach bunny." Kensi tried to joke.

"I'm a surfer and I grew up in L.A unlike you people. Beaches make me happy, but if you insist on doing this then let's go." Deeks said as he started to walk towards his apartment.

They walked up the stairs and headed down the outside hallway to his apartment door. They all looked at the door and they could tell it hadn't been tampered with, but that doesn't mean that someone didn't pick the lock. Deeks unlocked the door and they all went in. Deeks went around his apartment checking his windows and patio door to see if there was any damage but there wasn't. Deeks headed into his kitchen where he kept Monty's food. Sam, Callen and Kensi were assessing the windows and patio door on their own as well. Deeks opened the bin and saw Monty's food. It wasn't discolored and Deeks grabbed a handful and smelt it, but there wasn't a chemical smell to it.

"Does this chemical have an odor?" Deeks asked.

Kensi came into the kitchen.

"No it doesn't. That's why it's used in a lot of poisonings. No taste, no odor, you never know it was even in your drink or food. Given to a person it will just make you sick, but if someone puts five or more drops into someone's drink or food that person could die from it. It is a strong chemical that you cannot ingest." Kensi explained.

"But it's in eye drops, anyone has access to it." Deeks said.

"That will be a problem if someone is targeting you." Callen said.

"Let's take a sample of the food back to the lab and then we can call the manufacturing and see if there has been a recall or other reports." Sam said.

"That's all it probably is. No one broke in here." Deeks said.

"No, but someone could have picked your lock and you wouldn't know it." Kensi said.

"Monty would have barked and attacked." Deeks said.

"But you said he wouldn't if it was someone he knew or in a police uniform." Callen said.

"Someone also could have come in when you were out taking Monty for a walk last night. I'm assuming you took Monty before you fed him." Sam said.

"Ya I took him for a walk before I fed him, I do every night." Deeks replied back.

"So it's possible someone picked the lock while you were out walking Monty last night." Kensi said.

"It's also possible that there was something wrong with the manufacturing of the dog food." Deeks said.

"Deeks you need to take this seriously." Sam said in a serious voice.

"I am, but I'm also not going to jump to conclusions yet. Sometimes horses are just horses and not zebras. Let me call the manufacturing first and see if there was a recall or if other reports have come in before everyone jumps to conclusions. If there is fowl play then I will get serious and look into it. For now there is no reason to go to extremes with this." Deeks said.

"Deeks is right; it is very possible that something went wrong at the factory where the dog food was produced. Let's see what they say first before we go any further. Let's get the food tested to even make sure that is where the poison came from." Callen said.

"We should take his toys just in case." Kensi said.

"He doesn't have any new ones, and he wasn't playing with any while I was home last night." Deeks said.

"Did he play with anything that was yours?" Sam asked.

"No. we just sat on the couch watching tv last night."

"Alright, you two take that to the lab and we will meet you back at Ops." Callen said.

"Let's go partner." Deeks said as he grabbed a sample of the dog food and headed towards his door.

They all left Deeks' apartment and got into their cars. Deeks and Kensi headed off in the direction of the lab, while Sam and Callen headed back to Ops.

"I don't like this G. He's not taking this seriously."

"Give him a break Sam. He does have a point we shouldn't be jumping to conclusions. It's very likely that there was just something wrong with the processing of the dog food. Assuming it's even in the dog food."

"A chemical from eye drops? How does that get into bags of dog food that is processed by machines G?"

"The machines are monitored by employees. Maybe someone had a beef with their employer and wanted to do something about it. We don't know, but it does happen. If it wasn't from the manufacturers then we can do something about it. You know just as well as I do though, that the list of enemies Deeks has is long, and that list has only grown in the last two years. If Deeks is being targeted you know he will be on alert and taking this seriously."

"I know the last time it wasn't him that was being targeted, but he left himself open by not changing his routines. I just don't want to see him falling back into that. It's too easy to get comfortable in a routine. If someone did break into his house then they already know where he lives and his schedule. He needs to be careful."

"It's easier for us, because we don't have a pet. Deeks has to keep Monty on some form of a schedule you know that."

"Ya well maybe Monty should be going to stay with someone else for a little while."

"Are you offering?" Callen said with a smile.

"No. I hate dogs." Sam grumbled.

"I don't know, I think he's starting to rub off on you. You seemed a little worried and concerned for him when you found out he was poisoned." Callen said smugly.

"I was concerned for Deeks. If that dog dies we'll have to deal with him mopping around for weeks over it."

"Right." Callen said skeptically.

"Deeks has been through a lot in the last year. Monty clearly means a lot to him. I don't want to see him hurt if Monty dies. That doesn't mean I like the dog, I just don't want Deeks to have to deal with any more pain. There's only so much one person can take before they say enough is enough."

"We'll keep an eye on Deeks. No one on this team wants to see him hurt again. He just got over what happened to him when Kensi left and then we had to rescue her. He never said anything, but I'm willing to bet it brought up bad memories and nightmares for him. They clearly haven't talked about whatever happened before Kensi left. You can see the tension and awkwardness between them. They're trying to go back to how they were, but they aren't there yet. Deeks isn't alone in this. We will be there and if he is being targeted we will make him safe. For now let's just see what the manufacturer says."

"Fine, but if it's not from them, I will be going into full Seal mode on him."

"Just remember that Deeks is a person and is intelligent, despite how he may act at times."

"I know and I know he's a great detective, but still we all make mistakes and if he is being targeted this person obviously means business."

"We will figure it out. For now just relax Sam."

They drove back to Ops and once they walked inside Hetty was on them.

"Did you find anything at Mr. Deeks' apartment?"

"No, everything looked fine. Deeks and Kensi are taking a sample of Monty's food to the lab to see if the poison came from there. Deeks is also going to call the manufacturing to see if it was something on their end." Callen answered.

"So it's possible that this is nothing." Hetty stated.

"Possible." Sam said.

"You don't seem convinced Mr. Hanna." Hetty said.

"The bin was half way empty. If the food was tampered with at the manufacturing he should have already been sick. I just find it hard to believe."

"You could argue though, that if someone was going to go through all the trouble of breaking in to Deeks' apartment. Why poison Monty and not Deeks? Kinda seems pointless to go through all the trouble to kill Monty when he or she could have just killed Deeks as easily." Callen said.

"We see a lot of criminals do a lot of things that don't make sense. That doesn't make it any less realistic. Maybe he has a stalker, maybe this person didn't want Deeks dead, but needed Monty out of the way so he or she could come in the middle of the night to take Deeks. We don't know why Monty was poisoned, but if it was intentional the target is obviously Deeks." Sam said.

"Let's see what Mr. Deeks finds out and then we can go from there. Until then you all have paperwork that is behind. So I suggest you get to it." Hetty said.

"We're on it." Callen said with a smile.

Callen and Sam headed back to their desks and got started on their paperwork while they waited for Kensi and Deeks to get back. It was forty minutes later when Kensi walked into the bullpen.

"Hey, where's Deeks?" Sam asked.

"He's outside on hold with the manufacturer." Kensi said as she sat down.

"So it was in the food?" Callen asked.

"They did a quick test of it and they did find trace amounts of the chemical. We only brought a handful, so there could be more in the remaining food, or Monty ate the worst of it." Kensi said.

"Could they tell if it was intentional or not?" Sam asked.

"No, because they didn't have the whole bag. If they did then they could test all of the food to see if it was concentrated to one area or the whole bag was contaminated."

"Okay, but it stands to reason that if the whole bag was contaminated then Monty would have been sick this whole time from eating it." Sam said.

"We don't know that Sam. Let's see what Deeks has to say." Callen said.

"You don't believe this was an accident at a factory." Kensi stated as she looked at Sam.

"No I don't. I think something fishy is going on here and either Deeks knows something he's not telling us or he truly is this unconcerned over it. There are a lot of things he doesn't take seriously, but he normally always take safety seriously and this time around he isn't."

"He just doesn't want to jump to the worst case scenario without all of the information." Kensi said in Deeks' defense.

They heard the door open and they knew it would be Deeks. Deeks came around the corner and into the bullpen a few moments later. He made his way over to his desk as he spoke.

"Well that settles that. Turns out I am the eighteenth person to call about their dog being sick in the last week."

"So there was a mistake?" Kensi asked.

"Not really a mistake. Apparently, they had a less than happy employee who decided to quit in a less classy style. He apparently, felt that the company owed him money and they refused to pay it. So he went and decided to try and ruin the company by putting eye drops into partly filled bags at night when the factory was shut down. The company lawyers are working on issuing a recall once they figure out just how many bags were poisoned and when they were. They don't even know when they were tampered with because the guy finally left a week ago. Some of the bags that people reported the chemical in had gotten them three weeks ago. I got Monty's bag two weeks ago. They did offer to pay my vet bills though."

"Did they catch the guy on camera?" Callen asked.

"Security is going through them to try and find out just how far back he had been doing it. Once they know they will do a recall of those bags and pay the vet bills of those that get sick as well I'm assuming. He'll be arrested; I'd imagine the company is going to press charges." Deeks said.

"To save face they'll have to." Kensi said.

"So what this guy just put a few drops in each bag?" Sam asked.

"I guess. It's probably the last time they ever leave half-filled bags on the line at the end of the night." Deeks said.

"See Sam it was nothing to panic over." Callen said.

"I'm glad Monty will be okay then. Hopefully he makes a full recovery and this doesn't happen again." Kensi said.

"Ya it might be time to change his food after all of this. I better go tell Hetty so she knows she doesn't have to worry." Deeks said as he got up.

Deeks headed over to Hetty's desk and Sam just shook his head.

"What?" Kensi asked Sam.

"I don't believe him."

"Why not?" Callen asked annoyed.

"He didn't act any differently Sam." Kensi said.

"Something is off about him. I don't know what it is, but I can just sense it." Sam said as he looked at Deeks standing in front of Hetty's desk.

"I think you are being paranoid. Deeks seems fine to me, with all things considering." Kensi said.

"No offense Kens, but while you were away for your mission Deeks and I spent a lot of time together. He's hiding something, I know he is."

"Well even I think you are being a little paranoid, but if it bothers you so much try and get it out of him. You know just as well as I do though, that if he doesn't want to share then he won't. Deeks can keep a secret almost better than all of us." Callen said.

"I'll talk to him, but I don't think he's hiding anything. I might have been gone for a few months, but he's still my partner. He wouldn't lie or hide something like this. He wouldn't put himself or us at risk." Kensi said.

"I just can't shake the feeling like he's got some huge secret he's keeping from us. He was in too much control when he found out about the poison. He didn't even get slightly emotional." Sam said.

"He's a detective. His mind would have been going over possible scenarios right away. Deeks does have control over his emotions Sam." Kensi said.

"I know he does, but I still would expect him to have some emotional response to this." Sam said.

"I think you are reading too much into this, but if it bothers you so much then speak to him and see what he says." Callen said.

"I plan on it." Sam said.

Deeks walked over to Hetty's desk to inform her of his little lie. There was one thing he learned to master in being an undercover it was how to lie. Deeks smiled at Hetty as she looked up.

"Ah Mr. Deeks, did you find out what happened?"

"Ya it was a manufacturing mishap, well more like a disgruntled employee. There have been eighteen calls about it in the last week. The company is working on a recall once they know when the poisoning started. They even offered to pay for my vet bills which was nice of them I guess."

"I'm glad it was nothing serious, like someone targeting you. Have you heard from the vet yet?"

"Not since before we left. I was actually thinking about going down to see how he was doing. I know I have paperwork, but I thought maybe I could take it home with me. If that would be okay?"

"That's fine with me. Go see Monty and make sure he is doing well. I would also advise you to change your dog food brand and even change his toys just in case."

"I plan on it."

"Please let me know how he is doing and when he is better bring him in."

"I will; thank-you Hetty."

"It's no problem. Go get out of here and make sure he is alright."

Deeks gave Hetty a smile and he headed back over to his desk. He grabbed his bag and started to put his paperwork inside.

"Hetty is letting me go early so I can check in on Monty and get him some new food. I did say I would take my paperwork home though." Deeks explained.

"Well text me and let me know how he is." Kensi said.

"I will and text me if a case pops up and I'll come back in." Deeks said.

"I could come over later if you want or to the animal hospital to see him." Kensi said awkwardly.

"Um… ya just text me later and we'll figure it out." Deeks said.

Things between them had been awkward after everything and they truly didn't know how to go back to where they were before Kensi left for her mission. They were trying, but they truly weren't trying that hard. Deeks didn't know what Kensi wanted from him and he was too afraid to ask. So here they were in this awkward stage of their friendship or partnership and Deeks was certain Callen and Sam could tell as well.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow." Deeks said.

"Be safe." Sam said as he looked right at Deeks.

"I'm always safe." Deeks said with a smile as he headed out of the bullpen and out to the parking lot.

Deeks was going to go and see Monty, but first he wanted to take care of a few things. He wanted to get Monty some new food, new toys and even a new bed. After being sick and getting poisoned because of him Deeks was feeling the need to spoil Monty. He also needed to go to a regular store of his and get some security measures taken care of. He was going to make sure that him or Monty never got poisoned again. Deeks decided to head to the pet store first, because shopping for Monty always made him feel better. When he got to his usual pet store he grabbed a cart and headed to the food first. He grabbed a new bag of dog food, same brand, because it was Monty's favorite, but it would be a fresh bag. He then went over to the treats and grabbed a few different ones, making sure he got Monty's favorite ones. He then headed over to the dog beds and picked out one that was big and fluffy so Monty would be comfortable in it. It was twice the size of his current bed, one that needed to be changed after having it for so long. Deeks then headed over to the toys and grabbed ten new toys and bones for Monty before he headed over to the cash. Three hundred dollars later, Monty was certainly successfully spoiled. Deeks headed back to his car and put Monty's new things inside. He then headed off to a spy store that he frequented at. Deeks had been a regular at this store since he was eighteen. The store owner knew him very well and he was always happy to see Deeks come in. The owner had no idea what he did, he thought he was a private investigator and in a way he was. He was a detective so in a way he was a private investigator.

Deeks pulled up to the parking lot and parked out front so he could see his car. He got out of his car and headed inside. The place was empty and Deeks was glad for that. The owner came out from the back when he heard the small bell chime that was attached to the door.

"Martin, long time no see." The owner said with a huge smile on his face.

"It's good to see you two, Bill."

"Is this business or pleasure today Martin?"

"I'm afraid it's business, personal business. You remember my dog?"

"Of course, how could I forget Monty? How is he?"

"He's not good. Someone broke into my home and poisoned his food to get to me. He's going to make it, but he's pretty sick."

"I never understood why humans must hurt animals. I'm glad you are not poisoned, but still to go after a dog. That's just wrong. What can I do for you?" Bill asked seriously.

"I need some high tech equipment. Someone is targeting me and I don't know who it is. I need a way to keep an eye on my place when I'm not there. This person also picked the lock."

"I'm assuming money is no issue as usual?"

"That's correct."

"I have some things for you then. Come with me to the back. I save these things for good loyal customers that can afford it. You won't get any more high tech then what I have." Bill said as they started to walk into the back room.

Bill picked up a small camera barely the size of a nickel.

"Now for cameras, these are wireless and can be programmed to stream live to your cell phone. It comes with a program for your computer; you can actually upload photos of people who are allowed in your house. If the camera picks up a person who isn't allowed in your house an alarm will be sent to your phone, it will also start to take pictures of that person and store it for further investigations. There are ten cameras in the set and they are all connected to each other, so no matter where you put them in your house once one of the cameras detect a threat they will all detect the threat. Plus the cameras have a built in scrambler, so if a threat is in your home the cameras will scramble all cell phone signals. Pretty cool huh?"

"That is awesome. I'll take em. Do you have anything to help prevent my lock from being picked?"

"Not for a front door, however, I do have one with sensors on the inside of the lock. Normally a professional can pick a lock in five seconds at best. This lock is designed to be complicated. It can take a professional no less than two minutes to pick it. The sensors on the inside can be connected to your phone. What happens is once the sensors detect anything besides the key inside the lock it will send a signal to your phone alerting you that someone is trying to break in. It comes with two keys so you can have a spare at least."

"That works. What about for cupboards? I don't want to risk something happening to the food again."

"I have these locks, there is no key, Its a remote button that you would need to use to open the lock. That is the only way to get into the lock. There is no way to pick it. The only way someone could get into the lock is if they break it and if that happens then you know something happened."

"That's great. I really appreciate your help over the years."

"You are my best and loyal customer. I would hate for something to happen to you Martin."

"Thanks Bill. One day someone might come around asking about me."

"I would never tell anyone anything about you, you know that."

"I know, but one day this beautiful woman might come looking for me, asking you questions. She has long brown hair and mixed match eyes. I want you tell her everything you can. If something happens to me, she's going to be the one to come looking for me and she might be with two other men. If they ever come asking about me I need you tell them everything you can. Can you do that for me please?" Deeks asked as he showed Bill the picture of Kensi, Sam and Callen.

"I can do that for you, but for your sake I hope they never come around asking."

"That makes two of us." Deeks said with a smile.

Deeks grabbed what he needed and Bill rang the order through. Once Deeks paid he said goodbye to Bill and headed back out to his car. Deeks drove home and when he got there he grabbed everything out of his car and headed inside. He did a sweep really quick first, but nothing seemed out of place or moved. Deeks went about grabbing Monty's old things and throwing them out in a garbage bag. He then put his new bed where his old one was and he got his new toys and put them in his toy basket. Deeks went into the kitchen and threw out the whole bin of food including the bin. He grabbed the new food and put it in a new bin, then placed it in the cupboard. Deeks decided to do the locks first in the kitchen, because they were the easiest. He made sure each cupboard had a lock on it, plus one on the freezer and fridge. He wasn't going to be blindsided again with poison. Once the locks were setup in the kitchen Deeks went to work on the one for his front door. Deeks had changed locks many times in his life so it didn't take him long to get the old one out and put the new one in. He would keep one key and give the other to Kensi. She was going to be the one to come looking for him. Deeks knew he wouldn't have long to set everything up. He had to make sure the clues were perfect and that Kensi and the team would understand. Deeks knew he was getting ahead of himself, but he wanted to make sure if something did happen he was ready. He didn't even know who was after him, but this person had never come into his home before and Deeks couldn't help, but think that this person was getting tired of watching.

Thirty minutes later the new lock was in and Deeks put the old lock in the garbage. He then went to work on the cameras. There were ten of them; he was going to put one out front of his apartment so he could see if someone was outside. He was going to put one in each room as well and the rest would be in the living room. The cameras were easy to install they had self-adhesive on the back so all Deeks had to do was stick it to the wall, or item. Once all the cameras were in place Deeks grabbed his laptop and sat down at his desk. He installed the program and made sure he put it so that everyone on the team could be in his home. He didn't put their phone numbers down though, so if he did go missing and they came looking then the scrambler would still be in place. Deeks made sure his number was clear of the scrambler and once that was done the cameras were up and running. Deeks checked his phone and sure enough he could see the live feed. Now came the hard part. Deeks wanted to make a video just to explain a few things just in case he was taken. He wanted to be able to say goodbye if nothing else. Deeks didn't want to do this, but he felt like he had to. If he didn't and he was taken, this would be the last chance he got to say goodbye to them. Deeks took a deep breath before he turned on the webcam and began to record his final message to the team. Once he was done he saved the file and loaded it onto a flash drive. He went into his bedroom and put the flash drive in his secret safe.

Deeks looked at the time and saw that it was almost three. He had one more stop to make before he went to see Monty. Deeks grabbed his jacket and went back over to his desk. He wrote down two simple words on a piece of paper before he put it in his pocket and then left. He drove down to the bank that was on the other side of town. Once there he went in and went straight to the back where the safety deposit boxes are. He showed his I.D and his key and with the safety deposit box clerk they both went to his safety deposit box. Once it was open Deeks thanked the clerk and took out his box. He placed the piece of paper inside the box and then put it back. Deeks headed back out and smiled once again to the clerk. Deeks' mind was going a mile a minute. He was going over all of the clues he had made over the years and he was hoping they would hold up. When he started this it was ten years ago and he was doing it with the hopes that one day someone would know him enough to understand what he was leaving behind. Now that he had the team, he was hoping they would be able to crack his clues and understand where he was going with them. The problem was it wasn't like Deeks even knew who was after him. He didn't even have a clue. He had never seen the same person around him. He never noticed anyone following him, or popping up when he was around. Whoever this person was; was talented or dedicated enough to not be seen. Deeks knew that he was up against someone smart enough to not be seen by him. Deeks knew he needed to be smarter; he needed to leave the clues so if he did go missing the team might be able to figure it out, because so far he hadn't been able to.

Deeks headed over to the animal hospital so he could check in on Monty and make sure he was doing better. He didn't know what he was going to do about Kensi. He wanted to spend time with her, but the atmosphere was so awkward between them. Deeks didn't know what to do. He wanted to talk to her and see how she felt, but she just didn't want to have a conversation with him. Even at work when they were stuck in the car for hours watching a store for their suspect they wouldn't talk. Deeks had tried, but she was just constantly shutting him down. Deeks knew she went through something horrible, be knew how it felt. He wanted to help her, but she didn't seem interested in it. After he was tortured all he wanted to do was hide, Kensi was the exact opposite of him. All she wanted to do was work to the point where she didn't want to be around him unless it was for work or about work. Deeks knew that she was talking to Jack whenever she could, or whenever he could. He was still overseas so he couldn't keep in contact frequently or often, but she was talking to him. Deeks didn't know if she wanted to be back with him. Part of Deeks could understand her wanting to be back with Jack. He was her fiancé; she obviously loved him enough to want to get married to him. The other part of Deeks couldn't understand why she would want to be with Jack after what he put her through. It was because of him that Kensi had changed and became more closed off. It had taken Deeks two years to get through her walls. Why she would want to go back to someone that hurt her so strongly Deeks didn't understand, but it wasn't his place to say anything. Deeks felt his phone vibrate and he knew it was a text message. He didn't check it until he parked in the animal hospital parking lot. Deeks pulled out his phone and saw it was a text from Kensi.

_**Hey, can I come and see Monty?**_

_**Sure. It's the animal hospital on Kentucky Ave. **_

Deeks got out of his car and headed inside. He smiled at the receptionist and she let him go right into the back where Monty would be. Deeks thanked her and headed to where they were keeping Monty. He was in a pen, with enough room to wander around if he wanted. Deeks opened it and went inside. Monty lifted his head up, but didn't come over to Deeks. He was still hooked up to an I.V and Deeks knew he still wasn't feeling any better. Deeks sat down beside him and pulled Monty into his lap. He put the blanket over him and just sat there petting him. He felt his phone buzz and he pulled it out of his pocket, only this time it was Sam.

_**Hey, how's the mutt?**_

_**He's still pretty sick; he didn't even come over to me when I got here. He's hooked up to an I.V still two.**_

A few minutes later he got another one back.

_**Sorry to hear that, hopefully he'll be okay. How about a drink later?**_

_**Thanks, but I'm just gonna go home later and get some sleep.**_

Deeks knew what Sam was trying to do. Deeks knew that Sam didn't believe his story. Spending any alone time with Sam would be dangerous. Sam seemed to have a way to make him talk. There was just something about Sam that got him to open up to him. Deeks didn't want to put anyone at risk though; he didn't want to tell them that someone was watching him only for them to get hurt. He also didn't see much point in telling them, because he couldn't tell them everything. They would want answers to questions that he couldn't answer. It would be more of a fight and frustration for them then it would do anyone any good. Deeks wasn't going to put any of them at risk or in danger. Deeks knew that it might cost him his life, but he wasn't going to jeopardize theirs just to save himself. It wasn't who he was. Deeks felt his phone buzz once again.

_**Some other time then, but just know the offer is there.**_

_**Thanks Sam.**_

Deeks put his head back against the wall and closed his eyes. He was tired, that part was true. He didn't sleep last night so he had been up for over twenty-four hours now. Deeks wanted to spend some time with Monty before he went home to get some sleep. Thirty minutes later Deeks heard someone coming towards the pen. He opened his eyes to see Kensi walking into the pen. She had a sad look on her face at seeing Monty. Deeks gave her a small smile and she could see the exhaustion in his eyes. Kensi went and sat down beside Deeks and started to pet Monty's head.

"Hey boy. Aw you don't look to good."

"He didn't even move when I came in. He's still pretty sick." Deeks said with tiredness to his voice.

"You look horrible two."

"Jeez thanks."

"You know what I mean. You need sleep Deeks."

"I know. I'll go home soon. I just hate leaving him here feeling like this."

"I'll stay with him for a while. I'm in no hurry to go home."

"Do you have my spare key on you?"

"Ya why? Did you forget yours?"

"No I need it back."

"Oh, ok ya sure." Kensi said and Deeks could hear the hurt she was trying to hide. Clearly she got the wrong impression.

Kensi pulled out her keys and handed Deeks' spare key back to him. Deeks took it and placed it in his pocket. He then pulled out his new spare key and handed it to her.

"What's this?"

"It's my new spare key. The building owner decided to change the locks today. I got home and the guy was doing my apartment next. Wouldn't be much of a point in you keeping the old one." Deeks said with a smile.

Kensi smiled back and put the new spare key in her pocket.

"Why the new locks?"

"The other ones were pretty old so he decided it was time to upgrade I guess. I know a few of the apartments the locks were sticking and messing up on people. I guess he figured it was better to change them all at the same time." Deeks said with a shrug.

"Well that makes sense. Plus now you are the only one with a key to that place. You don't have to worry about past tenants that didn't return all of their keys two."

"Ya just don't tell Sam that, he'll be going around hunting down past tenants to see if they have eye drops in their medicine cabinets." Deeks said lightly.

"So you know he doesn't believe you." Kensi stated.

"I've gotten to know Sam pretty well after the whole torture thing. I can tell when he doesn't believe me. He asked me out for a drink tonight not too long ago. I turned him down. I'm sure he's frustrated with that."

"I told him not to worry about it. You would tell us if something was going on. You're not an idiot you know how serious it would be if the poisoning was intentional."

"Thanks, and if it was anything more than just some manufacturing problem then I would be taking it very seriously. I wouldn't put any of you at risk."

"We know you wouldn't. I just think after everything that has happened in the past year and a half everyone is on edge. We don't want anyone else to be hurt in our family."

"Ya I get that. If it had been anyone else I would have reacted the exact same way you guys did."

"You didn't seem that angry though or upset when you found out Monty was poisoned." Kensi said carefully.

She wanted to believe Deeks, but at the same time how could she ignore Sam's instincts. Sam had very good instincts and she had yet to see him wrong.

"I'm pissed off, but I'm also tired as hell. When I found out he was poisoned I was more just relieved that they knew what was wrong and could fix it. I just want him to be healthy again. Plus I stand by what I said it doesn't make sense to go through all of that trouble only to poison Monty when the person could have just poisoned me as easily."

"True. At least it wasn't anything more serious than what happened with the employee at the factory. He'll be good as new soon in a few days." Kensi said with a small smile.

They were silent for a good thirty minutes, before Deeks got the courage to ask what he desperately wanted to know. If something was going to happen, Deeks wanted to know where they stood. He needed the truth.

"So… have you heard from Jack recently?"

"Why are you asking me about Jack?" Kensi asked softly.

"Because I don't know what's going on anymore. I can't tell you how many times in the day I want to kiss you or hug you, but it seems like you barely even want to be partners. I know you loved him, you were engaged to him. It seems like ever since you got back to work you just don't want me around." Deeks said honestly.

"I want you around." Kensi said softly.

"As what? Because you are throwing mixed signals all over the place and I'm trying to keep up here, but one second you're hot the next you are cold. If you want to be with Jack then tell me. If you don't want to be partners anymore then tell me, because I don't know how many more days I can sit in silence with you."

"Jack is my past and ya it hurt a lot to see him. To find out he left to get away from me. He's not the man that I used to know and I'm not the woman he used to know. When it got hard, he left. You've never left. Even when it was hard you stayed. Even when I was screaming at you to leave me alone you stayed. You refused to let me go through it alone. You knew I needed you and you weren't afraid to stick it out. Jack is my past. You are my present and as terrifying as it is for me to say I would like for you to be my future. Jack is a good man, but you are a great man. A lot of men would have left a long time ago, but you didn't. You stayed through it all over the last three years. I know at work I haven't been that great with you. I've been cold and distant, but I didn't know how you felt about everything. Plus I'm afraid that if we go back to how we were that Hetty will split us up. You are my partner and I don't want another partner. I miss my partner."

"I miss my partner two, but I also miss my Fern."

"I miss my Max." Kensi said as she put her head down on Deeks' shoulder.

"I have patience and all the time in the world. Just tell me if I'm walking or waiting."

"Please don't ever walk." Kensi said sadly.

Deeks kissed the top of her head before he spoke.

"I'm not going anywhere."

They sat there curled up with each other for another hour before Kensi looked up and saw that Deeks had fallen asleep. Kensi smiled and went to kiss Deeks softly on the lips to wake him up. Deeks took a deep breath in and opened his eyes as he felt Kensi's lips on his. Deeks looked down and saw Monty was asleep in his lap. He checked his watch and saw what time it was. It was still relatively early, it was only six o'clock.

"Go home Deeks, get some sleep. I'll stay here for a little while longer with him."

Deeks rubbed his hands over his face to try and wake himself up.

"Ya okay. Call me if something happens."

"I will. Go get some sleep."

"I'll see you tomorrow."

"Definitely."

Kensi helped to move Monty off from Deeks' lap and into hers. Monty woke up and saw that Deeks was leaving.

"It's okay boy. I'll come see you tomorrow. You just rest. I got you some new toys and even a new bed for when you can come home."

"Sounds like daddy spoiled you." Kensi said with a smile.

"He did. So hurry up and get better."

Deeks gave Monty one last pet before he went to stand up.

"Hey" Kensi said as she grabbed the front of Deeks shirt and pulled him closer to her.

Deeks gave Kensi a kiss on the lips before he smiled and stood up. He was a little stiff from sitting in the same position for so long. He stretched before he spoke.

"See you tomorrow partner."

"See ya partner."

Deeks headed out of the animal hospital and back to his car. He was worried about Monty, but he was glad that Kensi was still going to be with him for a little while longer. Deeks started to drive home and his thoughts instantly went to Kensi. He was so happy that he had said something, because now at least he knew where they stood, where he stood. They were still going to try and figure it out and he could wait and be patient with Kensi. He knew she was still struggling after everything that happened to her. Deeks could understand what she was going through so he wasn't going to push, just like she hadn't with him. He was going to be there for her and together they would figure this all out. Deeks got home and the first thing he did was get changed and go to his bedroom. He was exhausted so he figured he would get some sleep now and then just set his alarm for five so he could get his paperwork done before work. With the new lock and cameras Deeks knew he was safe so he closed his eyes and let the exhaustion take over his body.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It had been a week since Monty's poisoning. A week of bouncing back and forth between the animal hospital, home and work. A week of dealing with Sam's looks and questions, but finally Monty was coming home. Deeks had picked him up last night after work and brought him home. Monty immediately ran over to his new bed and he dug out all of his new toys and bones. He was happy to be back home and Deeks was happy that Monty was given a clean bill of health once again. Deeks decided to bring Monty to work today so everyone could see him again. Plus Deeks got the call late last night from Bates that he needed him to go under for him. Deeks didn't want to go, but Bates needed Max Gentry for an operation so Deeks didn't have a choice, but to go. Deeks knew that the team wouldn't be too happy, but he didn't have a choice right now. Deeks made sure he had everything he would need for Monty and he was hoping that Kensi would be able to watch him.

Deeks pulled into the parking lot at Ops and looked in the backseat at Monty. He had his tail wagging like he knew where he was. Deeks just smiled.

"You want to go and see Kensi, boy?"

Monty barked and Deeks smiled at him. It was good to see him back to being healthy and happy. Deeks got out of his seat and opened the back door. He unhooked Monty from his harness and grabbed his bag. He headed inside with Monty happily walking beside him. Deeks walked into Ops and headed straight for his desk. He turned the corner and saw that Sam, Callen and Kensi were there.

"Hey boy." Kensi said with a smile and Monty ran over to her.

"Someone got a clean bill of health." Deeks said with a smile.

"I'm glad he's better." Callen said with a smile.

"Ya now you can stop pouting all day." Sam said with a smirk.

"I don't pout." Deeks said.

"Ah Mr. Deeks, I see Monty is back to normal." Hetty said as she came over to the bullpen.

"He is."

Hetty placed the basket she had in her arms down in front of Monty before she gave him a pet. Monty started to smell the toys and bones in the basket as he wagged his tail.

"Thank-you, you didn't have to do that." Deeks said with a smile.

"We all put some things inside of it. Kensi said he got to go home last night, we figured it was only a matter of time before you brought him in." Callen said.

"Thanks guys. You're really getting spoiled eh Monty."

Monty barked before he grabbed a bone and laid down beside Kensi's desk with it.

"Well he looks comfy." Sam said.

"Ya that's a good thing. I actually have to go undercover this morning." Deeks said awkwardly.

He knew they didn't like it when he went undercover for the LAPD. It had a habit of not ending well, so Deeks could understand where they were coming from. Thankfully this was going to be the last time. Deeks had told Bates last night that he was resigning and he was going to drop it off today before he went on the operation. He was going to take the risk and sign the NCIS papers. He was hoping that Kensi would be alright with it as well as Callen and Sam. Deeks was taking a huge risk, but he knew should he need to get out of NCIS, Bates would always let him come back.

"What?" Kensi asked.

"Bates called me late last night. Something has come up that he needs Max for. I don't know everything or how long it's going to be, but hopefully it won't be too long."

"What's the assignment?" Sam asked.

"Just some drug dealer who has decided it's time to become a big fish. He's not there yet and Bates wants him off the streets before he does get there."

"If you already know he's dealing drugs why not just arrest him then?" Kensi asked clearly annoyed that Deeks has to go undercover.

"Because he's working with some major suppliers that we haven't been able to get. This guy is new enough that he might just be stupid enough to let someone work with the suppliers with him. Max is the perfect alias for it."

"How deep is it?" Callen asked.

"Deep enough that I can't come back here on the slow days. Guys I'll be fine and if something happens I will let you know. If I need help I'm calling you guys long before I call LAPD."

"I don't like you going undercover for LAPD, but you are still one of their men. You have our numbers, if you need anything call. If you need a safe place to be you can always go to the boatshed and we will meet you there. Be careful Mr. Deeks." Hetty said.

"I will. I'll be fine, it's not like I haven't done this before. Do you think you can take Monty for me?" Deeks asked Kensi.

"Like you even have to ask. Do you have his things?" Kensi asked.

"Ya in my car."

"When do you have to leave?" Sam asked.

"I just need to grab my jacket and my I.D. Then I'll go see Bates to get the key to the cover house and to the car."

"Do you want me to hold onto your badge?"

"Normally yes, but you can't now. New protocols, your Lieutenant now has to hold on to your badge and service weapon. Before, you could leave your badge and service weapon at home or with someone, because LAPD gives you an undercover gun, one that is only used for undercover work. So if there is a shootout or someone gets hurt they can trace it back to the same guns. Now though, you have to leave it with Bates, because apparently some idiot thought it would be a good idea to go undercover with his badge and service gun. One night he gets a little too drunk and starts waving both of them around in the air at the bar he's undercover for. Three gunshot wounds later he is now a paper pusher at the front desk until he can prove he's not an idiot."

"Are you kidding right now?" Sam asked.

"No I'm dead serious. What's worse is that the guy has been doing undercover work for like five years. He's not green, he's just stupid. I'm actually amazed that he's still alive after five years." Deeks said with a smile.

"Wow" Callen simply said.

"Some people's children." Sam said as he shook his head.

"Alright, I have to go. Is your car locked?" Deeks asked Kensi.

"Ya it is."

"Okay let me just grab my jacket and I.D and then I'll put his things in your car."

"Ok"

Deeks headed down the hallway and up the stairs to wardrobe so he could grab his Max Gentry jacket. Once he had it he went back downstairs and into the bullpen. He went over to his desk and opened the drawer where all of his were. He grabbed Max's before he closed the drawer.

"Alright, keys." Deeks said to Kensi.

"We'll come out with you so Monty can say goodbye." Kensi said as he stood up.

"Alright. I guess I will see you guys hopefully soon." Deeks said to Sam and Callen.

"Be careful Deeks." Callen said in his leader voice.

"I will. I have ever intentions of coming back."

"I'm going to enjoy the quiet while it lasts." Sam said with a smirk.

"You're going to miss me and you know it." Deeks said with a smile.

Sam got up and pulled Deeks into a hug.

"Just come back alive Deeks." Sam said with sincerity in his voice.

"I'll be back, I just might even surprise you when I do big guy." Deeks said with a smirk.

"You need anything don't hesitate to call." Sam said.

"I won't. I'll be fine guys relax. I know what I'm doing."

"We know. We just got the whole team back Deeks. We'd like to keep it that way." Callen said.

"I promise the first sign of danger I'll call. I really need to go though and meet Bates."

"Alright come on Monty let's go and get your things. You're staying with me for a little while." Kensi said.

Monty barked as he got up. The three of them walked out of the bullpen and out to the parking lot by Deeks' car. Kensi unlocked her trunk and Deeks moved Monty's things into it. Deeks then leaned against the trunk.

"The vet said to make sure he says hydrated and if he starts to get really sluggish and weak again to bring him in." Deeks said.

"I'll keep him with me at work for the next few days just to keep an eye on him and make sure he's okay before I leave him alone. If he starts to get weird I'll take him in. Don't worry I'll keep him safe." Kensi said.

"I know you will. If you are out in the field and you get into a fight he will attack. He's done it before."

"I'll remember that. Though, I wish my partner was going to be there in the field with me instead."

"I know me two. Unfortunately I'm the only one who can be Max, but I don't think it'll take long, I could be wrong though."

"As long as you come back to me then I don't care how long it takes."

"I'll be back. No matter what I'll be back."

"I hate this alias of yours. I know it bothers you more than you let on."

"It does bother me, but you never know one day Max Gentry might be the answer to a very important question that you need."

"I doubt that. I'd rather have Marty Deeks."

"You do have me and you always will. Now give me a kiss, I have to go." Deeks said with a smile.

Kensi smiled back and grabbed Deeks by the front of his shirt and pulled him down to her. Deeks was more than happy to move and to kiss Kensi. He wasn't going to let this be some simple kiss. He put his right hand on the side of her face and deepened the kiss. He put as much emotions and passion as he could in it. If something happened and this was going to be the last kiss he ever got to give her, he was going to make sure she would never forget it. After a few minutes they pulled apart slowly from each other.

"Don't you die on me." Kensi said softly.

"Don't worry Fern, I'll be back." Deeks said with a smirk just as he did the first time he told her that.

Kensi smiled back and took a step back.

"Be safe"

"You two partner." Deeks said before he gave Monty a pet.

Deeks headed over to his car and Kensi and Monty stood off to the side so they wouldn't be in the way. Deeks got into his car and Kensi gave him a wave as he pulled out of the parking lot and headed off down the street. Monty whimpered and Kensi bent down to pet him.

"It's going to be okay boy; he'll be back for us. Until then you can work with me."

Monty barked and Kensi smiled at him. It was clear how much Monty loved Deeks and would miss him while he was away. Kensi got up and headed back inside with Monty behind her. All she could do now was wait for when Deeks would come back to them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It has been three weeks since Deeks left for his operation. It was ten o'clock at night when Deeks was finally done being debriefed. Deeks headed up to speak to Bates before he left. Deeks had been in the locker room grabbing his things that he had at LAPD. He put them in his small bag before he left the room and headed up to Bates' office. Deeks saw that the door was open so he went in to see Bates leaning against the front of his desk. Deeks gave him a smile and Bates returned it.

"So I guess this is it." Deeks said.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Bates asked with concern.

"I think it's time."

"You can always come back here if something happens, or if it doesn't work out. You will always have a spot here, even if it's not in the undercover unit. You will always be welcomed back."

"Thanks Bates. Hopefully they take this well."

"They don't know?" Bates asked surprised.

"No, I was worried that they would say something and I would question it. I'm just hoping that everyone will be fine with it."

"I'm sure they will be. If they didn't want you around they would have removed your position a long time ago. If you ever need anything don't hesitate to call me."

"Thanks. Same goes to you."

"Hold on to your badge and gun. The gun is yours to begin with and you can keep your badge as a little reminder. I'm not worried about you going around letting criminals use it. You've more than earned that badge."

"Good, because I didn't really want to hand it back in. I'll keep it in my gun safe so no one gets their hands on it. Just in case I get drunk in a bar one night." Deeks said with a smile.

Bates shook his head. "Idiot. Never have I ever had that happen. I would have expected it from some rookie, but not a seasoned detective."

"Is he ever going to get off desk duty?" Deeks asked with a smile.

"Maybe, but he's never going undercover again. When I'm done torturing him I'll put him back in the detective unit."

Deeks smiled at Bates, he was going to miss working for him, but Deeks knew this was the right thing to do. It was time he accepted that he was an Agent and it was time to actually put a label on it with NCIS. They were his family and he wanted to be there for them and help keep them safe.

"Thankfully he didn't die. I think that is the biggest wake-up call anyone could have given him. Maybe now he won't drink so much." Deeks said.

"He hasn't had a drop since."

"Good for him. Well I guess I better get going. I have to be at work for nine tomorrow."

"Are you picking up Monty?"

"Ya I am. I'm gonna go surprise my partner at him home; hopefully she's not passed out."

"You take care of yourself alright?" Bates said seriously.

"I will. You do as well."

Bates held his hand out and Deeks shook it.

"You were a great detective and you will be a great Agent. I'm proud of ya kid."

"Thanks Bates. You ever need anything don't hesitate to call."

"I won't and you make sure you do the same."

Bates gave a nod and a smile. Deeks smiled back and then headed out of Bates' office and out of the building. He walked over to his actual car and got inside of it. He looked at the building one last time before he put his car in drive and headed off for Kensi's apartment. Deeks was halfway there when he saw the headlights coming towards him from the driver side door. The next thing Deeks knew pain was exploding all over his left half of his body. Deeks knew that a vehicle had T-boned him, but his mind was screaming at him from the pain to his body. He figured he hit his head, because he could feel the blood coming down the front of it. His mind was a complete blur and he found himself unable to focus and move. His door was opened and the next thing he knew someone was holding him in a choke hold. Deeks tried to fight, but his body was in pain and his mind just didn't have the strength to get his body to listen to him. Deeks' mind was aware of his surroundings just enough to realize that this was the person who had targeted him for the last ten years. The last thought that went through Deeks' mind as the darkness took over, was that he hoped the team would find him before it was too late.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

It had been almost seven months since Deeks left for his undercover operation. No one on the team had heard from him during that time. They were all getting worried, but especially Kensi. Normally no news is good news, but that didn't ease any of their fears. Almost seven months and nothing from Deeks. They knew when he went into deep undercover he can't contact them out of fear of blowing his cover. Kensi didn't know how long they could wait for Deeks to come back before Hetty was forced to find a temporary replacement for him. They had been functioning as a three man team, but they were supposed to be a four man team. Nell had gone out in the field with Kensi when they needed the extra help, but that left Eric without a partner upstairs in Ops. They have done this before when Kensi was gone on her mission so it wasn't like this was something new for them, but still it wasn't ideal. Over the last almost seven months Kensi has been slowly getting more worried and more aggravated as time went on. They hadn't called Bates to check in on Deeks, because it wasn't their place. Deeks was working and they didn't want him to feel pressured into closing the operation sooner than it was safe to do.

Kensi came into the bullpen that Wednesday morning looking exhausted. She had been up most of the night worried about Deeks. She hated not hearing from him or knowing if he was alright or not. Sam and Callen could tell that Kensi was getting worse. Kensi and Deeks were more than partners and they all knew it. They never confirmed it, but they didn't need to. Everyone could see that they were together in a romantic relationship, but no one was saying anything to them about it. Kensi sat down at her desk and Callen figured enough was enough. They hadn't pushed in the last seven months now to check in on Deeks. They had given him the space and time to work without someone bugging him or making him feel pressured, but enough was enough.

"Kensi, call Bates." Callen said.

"We've been over this. We don't want Deeks to feel pressured or worried about any of us. He's clearly gone in deep and something as simple as a phone call could get him killed." Kensi said with exhaustion in his voice.

"We're not calling Deeks, we're calling Bates. Just to check in and make sure he's okay or when he might be done. Bates can keep it to himself so Deeks doesn't know. I'm with G on this one. It's time to call." Sam said.

"We should have called months ago, but we all wanted to wait. It's been almost seven months though, it's time to call." Callen said.

"Alright, I'll call." Kensi said as she grabbed her cell phone.

She dialed Deeks' precinct's number and waited for someone to answer.

"Los Angeles Police Department, how may I direct your call?" The receptionist asked.

"Lt. Bates please." Kensi said nicely.

"One moment."

Kensi could hear the beeping and she knew that she was being transferred to his office. She was hoping that she wouldn't get his voicemail. Thankfully a few moments later Bates' voice came over the phone.

"Lt. Bates."

"Bates, this is Agent Byle with NCIS."

"Is everything alright?" Bates immediately asked.

"We were hoping you would be able to tell us. I know Deeks in in deep undercover for you, but we haven't heard from him and we just wanted to make sure he was okay."

"I don't know what you are talking about Agent Byle, Deeks isn't undercover for me."

Fear instantly filled Kensi's whole body. She must have figured her eyes showed it, because Callen and Sam instantly went on guard. Kensi put the phone on speaker so everyone could hear.

"What do you mean he's not undercover for you? When did he finish?"

"He finished six months ago. What is going on?" Bates asked with anger and worry to his voice.

Callen grabbed Kensi's phone as he spoke.

"Bates, its Agent Callen can you hold on just one second."

"Is Deeks alright?" Bates asked.

"I don't know, just hang on a second." Callen put the phone on mute before he spoke. "Up in Ops, I'll get Hetty."

Callen didn't even let them reply he just went right over to Hetty's desk where Granger was sitting. Sam and Kensi went upstairs to Ops where Eric and Nell were.

"Something wrong Mr. Callen?" Hetty asked at seeing Callen serious face.

"Deeks is missing. Bates is on the phone, we called him just to check up on Deeks. Apparently, Deeks isn't undercover for him anymore."

"When he did he finish?" Granger asked.

"According to Bates, six months ago. Everyone else is up in Ops."

Hetty and Granger both got up and no more was said. The three of them headed into Ops and they figured that Sam and Kensi told Eric and Nell what they knew so far. Everyone went over to the table and Callen put the phone off from mute.

"Bates, you're on speaker with everyone." Callen said.

"What is going on? Is Deeks alright?" Bates asked.

"We don't know. We have not seen Mr. Deeks since he left here to go on that operation for you. That was almost seven months ago. When did the operation finish?" Hetty asked calmly.

"Six months ago. Are you telling me no one has seen him in six months?" Bates asked with anger and fear.

"Oh my God." Kensi said as realisation hit her. Deeks was missing and after six months, he was probably dead.

"Okay start from the beginning. Deeks left here March twenty-sixth. When did he finish his operation?" Granger asked.

"April sixteenth was the last day I saw him. That's when the operation was finished." Bates answered.

"Did anything go wrong on the operation?" Sam asked.

"No it was perfect. His cover was never questioned; we were able to get all of the suppliers off the street plus a few other major drug dealers. It was perfect."

"What happened when you saw him last?" Kensi asked.

"It was getting late by the time all of the paperwork and debriefing was done. It was around ten o'clock when he left here. He said he was going to pick up Monty and surprise Agent Byle."

"He never made it to my place, he never called or texted me either." Kensi said.

"Eric" Callen said.

"I'm on it." Eric said as he went over to the computer and immediately started to look through the camera footages to try and find Deeks that night.

"Our Tech is working on bringing up the footage that night. If you haven't heard or seen Deeks in six months why didn't you say anything?" Callen asked.

"Because Deeks doesn't work for me anymore." Bates said.

"What do you mean? He quit the undercover unit?" Kensi asked.

"No, he quit LAPD. That was going to be his last operation for me. He didn't tell anyone, because he didn't want to hear someone say something that made him question his decision. He signed the papers to be an NCIS Agent. He was going in to you guys that next morning to hand them in. I haven't heard from him, but I never expected to and when Hetty didn't call for a new liaison officer I figured she truly didn't need one."

"I just might surprise you when I come back. Dammit." Sam said.

"What?" Granger asked.

"Deeks before he left he said, I just might surprise you when I get back. That's what he meant. I thought he was just joking around." Sam said as he shook his head.

"Got it guys." Eric said.

"Bates, go on your computer and we'll stream the footage through." Callen said.

A few seconds later Bates was on Skype with NCIS and he was in a small corner of the big screen. On the screen was Deeks' car out front of LAPD. They watched as Deeks came out and then pull away. Eric followed Deeks' car through different footage.

"Well he's definitely going to my place." Kensi said.

"That's good; since he never made it to your place then we can at least follow him." Sam said.

After a few minutes they saw a pick-up truck ram right into the driver side door of Deeks' car. The car spun and finally stopped. The owner of the truck came out of it and headed to Deeks' driver side. The car was damaged, but it still looked drivable. The driver of the pick-up truck was dressed all in black, with black gloves, a black mask covering his face, plus a baseball hat and hood up.

"There's no way to I.D him, he's completely covered." Callen said.

They watched as the man grabbed Deeks in a choke hold and to their horror they watched him go limp. The man then took Deeks and put him in the trunk of his car. Once Deeks was in the trunk he removed both license plates so the car couldn't be I.D. The man then got into the driver seat and took off. Eric and Nell both tried to follow the car, but it got on the highway and they lost it.

"We can't track the car on the highway." Eric said.

"What about Kaleidoscope?" Sam asked.

"He took the plates off, I can track the type of car Deeks has, but there can be thousands that will pop up from then till now." Nell said sadly.

"I didn't see any witnesses." Bates said.

"It wouldn't matter, he was completely covered. What about the truck Eric? Can you get a plate?" Callen said.

"Um yup I should be able to." Eric said as he went to work on getting the plate.

"The truck would have to of been towed either by LAPD or some private company. If we can find out where the truck is, maybe we can get some DNA or prints." Sam said.

"Or ownership." Kensi added.

"He could have been a professional, but even an amateur could be smart enough to know to cover up completely." Bates said.

"Got the plate and I'm running it through the database now to try and find it." Eric said.

"Mr. Bates put a BOLO out on Mr. Deeks' car. Have your men search all over for any abandoned cars that match Mr. Deeks' car. It's been six months the car must have been disposed of by now. We have no body so we operate as if Mr. Deeks is still alive. He belonged to both of us and I want him home." Hetty said.

"I'll have every police officer in this city all over it. I will call the lab and let them know that any evidence regarding Deeks is their first and only priority so we don't have to wait around for weeks on results." Bates said in a serious voice.

"Got the truck it's in a private tow yard, Mike's towing." Eric said.

"Send me the address I will go and look at the truck. Have a CSI team sent down there as well. Callen, Sam and Kensi go and check out his apartment. See if anyone has been there since he left for the operation. Deeks has been missing for six months. The clock is ticking people." Granger said.

That was all Callen, Sam and Kensi needed to hear. They all bolted out of Ops so they could get to their cars and get over to Deeks' apartment.

"Lieutenant, we need a list of any in house or out of house reports of anyone with a grudge against Deeks. Anyone who made a threat against him; stick to male parties only." Granger said.

"I'll get that for you." Bates said.

"Mr. Beale and Miss. Jones, find out everything you can about Mr. Deeks before he was taken. Also check any prisoners that may have been released around that time that Mr. Deeks put away. Maybe a past cover has been blown." Hetty said.

"We're on it." Eric said.

"I'll come with you to check out this truck." Hetty said to Granger.

"I'm driving." Granger said before he left with Hetty right behind him.

Sam and Callen pulled up to Deeks' apartment with Kensi right behind them. They all got out and headed up the stairs and down to Deeks' apartment. They got to the door and saw notices taped on the door. They were all for non-payment of rent. One was for a notice of eviction. The court date was for next month. Sam grabbed the papers to bring back to Ops. Sam figured he would be able to speak to the building owner and let him know that Deeks had been kidnapped and explain the situation. Maybe he would be able to get the building owner to work something out. Sam didn't want Deeks to lose his apartment. Sam knew how much Deeks loved this place and how hard it is to find a new place so close to the beach. Kensi pulled out her keys, but she couldn't help, but notice how high tech the lock was. She stopped and stared at it.

"What is it Kens?" Callen asked.

"It's the lock. Deeks told me the day we found out Monty was poisoned that later on the building owner came by to have all of the locks changed. He needed his spare back from me and he gave me the new spare. This isn't just some normal lock, it's a Bluster."

"What is that?" Sam asked.

"It's the highest level of security when it comes to key locks. There are sensors on the inside of the lock that will send an alarm to your phone or computer letting you know someone is trying to pick the lock. You have to use the key that comes with the lock or the sensors will send the alarm." Kensi explained.

Sam and Callen looked at the lock on the neighbor's door and sure enough it was some old crummy lock.

"This lock isn't new; it's almost a decade old." Sam said.

"So Deeks changed the lock." Callen said.

"But why lie about it? Why not just tell me he decided to change his lock? And why the need for something this secure?" Kensi said.

"I don't know. Let's go in though." Callen said.

Kensi used her key and opened the door. When they walked in they were greeted by the smell of dust and stale air. Clearly no one had been in here in almost seven months. Kensi clicked the light switch and the lights didn't come on.

"Hydro has been cut off." Kensi said.

"His mailbox is probably full of unpaid bills." Callen said.

"We'll see if the building manager will let us into his mailbox. Maybe I can get them sorted for him so he doesn't ruin his credit." Sam said.

Kensi shook her head and headed into the kitchen, she wasn't prepared for what she saw.

"Um… guys look at this."

Sam and Callen headed into the kitchen to see all the cupboards, fridge and freezer were covered in locks.

"You need a remote to unlock these things." Sam said.

"Clearly Deeks was taking Monty's poisoning more seriously than we all thought he was." Callen said as his mind was turning.

"Are we all thinking the same thing here?" Kensi asked sadly.

"He knew something." Sam stated.

"Let's call Eric and see if there were ever any news reports about a recall on the dog food." Callen said.

Sam pulled out his phone to call Eric, but when he hit the call button his screen went fuzzy and started to break up.

"What the hell?" Sam said as he looked at his phone.

"What?" Callen asked.

"Look at my phone." Sam said as Kensi and Callen looked at Sam's phone.

"Looks like it's time to get a new one." Callen said.

"I'll call." Kensi said as she pulled out her phone.

"I just got this phone two months ago." Sam said.

"Guys, my phone is doing it two." Kensi said as she held up her phone to show them.

"It's a scrambler, but why would Deeks have one?" Callen said as he looked around the kitchen to see if he could find anything that might be it.

"A scrambler will only work when you are by it." Sam said as he made his way out of the kitchen with his phone in his hand.

He walked into the living room, but his phone was still acting up, so he went further back into the apartment, but all he got was the same result.

"This whole apartment has a scrambler in it." Sam said.

"Try outside." Callen said.

Sam walked outside, but right by Deeks' door his phone still didn't work so he went down to the neighbor's door and his phone worked again. Sam went back into Deeks' apartment.

"My phone works once I'm away from Deeks' apartment, so the scrambler is all over his place." Sam said.

"Scramblers only work if you are by it. So either Deeks put more than one in his house, or someone else did." Callen said.

"The only reason someone else would is if they wanted to grab Deeks in the apartment and wanted to make sure he couldn't call for help, but the suspect took Deeks long before he got back here." Kensi said.

"So if Deeks put one in it was so if someone broke in they couldn't use their phone, but wouldn't the scrambler make it so Deeks can't use his phone?" Callen asked.

"I don't know, that lock is high tech, maybe there are scramblers out there that you can program which numbers to scramble and which ones not to." Sam said.

"So how do we find the scrambler?" Kensi asked.

"We search the house." Callen said.

"Let's start out here, because if I stand outside in front of his door it still doesn't work." Sam said.

"Check outside and we'll check in here." Callen said.

Sam went outside and started to look all around the door frame and on the ground. Sam didn't know how big it could be, but he knew it would need to be big enough for someone to notice to remove it. Sam felt all over the trim and he stopped when he felt something no bigger than a dime. It was black and it looked like it was just a darker spot on the wood. Sam then noticed what exactly it was, a small camera. Sam carefully removed it and went back inside.

"I just found a small camera on the door frame." Sam said.

Callen and Kensi went over to see what it looked like and Kensi instantly remembered that she saw something just like it over on a photograph. Kensi went over to the photograph and saw the same camera. She removed it as she spoke.

"There's one over here, I just thought it was part of the picture frame."

"Let's search all over, see how many there are." Callen said.

Thirty minutes later they had looked through the whole house and found ten cameras. They couldn't believe how much security was in this one apartment. Deeks was the one to change the lock on the front door. Deeks was the one to add the locks to his food. So it only stands to reason that Deeks was the one to put in the cameras.

"We need to get these to Eric to see just what they are. We should grab his laptop and Eric can go through it." Callen said.

"If someone was after him, why wouldn't he tell us?" Kensi asked sadly.

"I don't know. I thought after all this time he knew that he could trust us. That we would be there for him. He didn't have to do this alone." Sam said angrily.

"That doesn't matter right now. We have to focus on finding him. The rest doesn't matter. Let's get these and the laptop back to Ops and see what we can find. Maybe the others had some luck." Callen said.

"I'll go get the laptop." Kensi said.

Kensi headed into Deeks' bedroom and over to his desk where his laptop was sitting. She was furious with him for not telling her that someone was after him. After everything they have been through she thought he would be honest with her. She thought he trusted her with his life. Yet here she was, he was missing, kidnapped, and he was hiding this from her. She knew she couldn't let her emotions get in the way of finding him, but she honestly didn't know how she would feel once they did find him. She grabbed the laptop and brought it back out into the living room. Sam grabbed the small cameras and then they left and headed back to Ops. Callen called Eric and Nell to have them check on the recall for the dog food or to see if Deeks lied about that as well. They all figured he did, but they needed it confirmed.

They got back to Ops and headed straight upstairs to show Eric the cameras. They placed the cameras and the laptop down on the table upstairs and Nell and Eric came over to have a look.

"These cameras were all over his apartment. Plus a scrambler is there as well, but we couldn't find it." Callen said.

"These are the scramblers." Eric said as he looked at the camera.

"What like built in?" Kensi asked.

"These are top of the line. You don't get any more advanced than this. Each camera has its own scrambler built in. There would have been a program that came with them. Deeks would have it on his laptop, you can program the cameras to not only stream live to a smartphone, but program who is allowed in your apartment. You upload a picture of a person that is allowed in your apartment and the camera will pick up that person. If someone who is not allowed to be in your apartment is caught on camera the camera sends an alert to that person's phone, plus the camera starts to record and take pictures of that person. On top of everything else each camera has a built in scrambler that you can program so certain numbers won't be affected. This is some of the best spy gear out there." Eric said.

"Okay so the cameras are top of the line, the front lock he installed is top of the line. He must have gotten these things all at the same place. Eric who would sell these things?" Callen asked.

"Only one shop in town that I can think of that would have these things, Spy Gadget down on Fifth and Wellington. The owner Bill Hensworth, sells a lot of small time things, but he's known for his backroom where he keeps the best of the best, but only loyal and high paying customers get to see any of it." Eric answered.

"These things aren't cheap though, cameras like this it could be fifteen thousand dollars. Where would Deeks get that type of money?" Nell asked.

"Credit card?" Sam suggested.

"Deeks doesn't have one." Kensi answered.

"Alright, pull his financial records. We don't have a choice. He's missing and we need to dig through his life to try and figure out who took him. We'll go and speak to the shop owner and see what he has to say. Did Hetty and Granger have any luck with the truck?" Callen asked.

"They are still there. Once the CSI unit is done with the truck they will have it towed to our garage." Nell answered.

"Keep them updated on what we found. Let's go see what this shop owner has to say." Callen said.

Callen, Kensi and Sam left Ops to go down to the shop. They didn't know what the shop owner would be able to tell them, but they were hoping he might have something for them. It was pretty clear that Deeks knew someone was after him. He wouldn't have spent all of this money on security if he didn't think he was in danger. The other thing Kensi couldn't figure out was where the money came from for the cameras. Kensi knew that Deeks was only on a detective salary, fifty thousand a year max. Kensi didn't know where he would have gotten the money for the cameras and the locks. Deeks wasn't living pay cheque to pay cheque, but he didn't have fifteen grand to drop on cameras she knew that. Kensi knew that Deeks must have some money stashed somewhere, but she couldn't imagine where he would have gotten it. Fifteen grand was a lot of money to save up for a detective.

"Where do you think he got the money from?" Callen asked Sam as they drove to the shop.

"I don't know. If it was anyone else I would say Deeks' is dirty, but we all know he isn't. Maybe he saved up for it or maybe he has an inheritance."

"Maybe, he's getting the money somewhere. The cameras alone were fifteen grand that's not including all the locks. He's getting the money from somewhere. I highly doubt the LAPD gave it to him."

"He should have said something. This person knew where he lived, we could have protected him. He could have been in a safe house. He should have said something." Sam said with anger.

"He should have, but all that tells me is that maybe there was a really good reason why he didn't. Deeks trusts us. I think there was a reason he didn't tell us." Callen said.

"I hope there is and it's not that he didn't trust us with this. It's been six months G since he's been taken. We don't even know if he's alive."

"Until we find a body we have to believe he's alive. All we can do is follow the evidence and hope we can find him. None of us are going to quit until we do."

They pulled up behind Kensi in front of the shop. They all got out of their car and headed inside the store. The store was small and at first sight they could see a lot of simple low tech gadgets that were basics for someone looking to entertain being a spy. For the real Agents and spies out there, they would get a laugh out of it. They knew there was more to this store though, because Eric had said this is where the cameras came from. A man came walking out from a room and they figured it was the special back room. He was older, in his fifties with salt and pepper hair. He wasn't a tall man just barely five foot eight, with green eyes. When he saw them his smile faded and concern took over.

"Oh no, what happened to Martin?"

That took the three of them by surprise. This man clearly knew Deeks and he clearly knew who they were on some level.

"You know Marty?" Kensi asked.

"I do, he's a very loyal customer. For you to be here then that means something happened to him. Please tell me he's alive." The man said with fear to his voice.

"We don't know. He's missing, has been for six months." Callen said.

"By missing you mean kidnapped." The man stated.

"I'm sorry how do you know who we are?" Sam asked.

Bill let out a sigh.

"I have a very strict policy that I don't give out customer information, especially to someone as loyal as Martin is. The last day I saw him was just about seven months ago now. He said that one day a beautiful woman with long brown hair and mixed match eyes would come here with two men asking about him. I told him not to worry that I would never tell anyone anything about him, but he told me to tell you everything. He showed me a picture of the three of you and said not to hold back. Now here you are, so obviously he's missing, but he's missing because he was taken. Probably by the same person who poisoned his sweet little dog, Monty."

"He told you about that?" Kensi asked.

"He did, he was in here that day. Told me Monty was in the animal hospital and was very sick. He didn't want it to happen again. He told me what he needed and I brought him into the back room."

"How long has he been a customer of yours?" Sam asked.

"Since he was eighteen. He never said what he did for a living, but whatever it was, paid very well. I always assumed he was some private investigator."

"What has he bought?" Callen asked.

"High end technologies, cameras, short and long lens, computer screens microphones, laptops, scanners, scramblers, high end surveillance equipment and various programs. Over the years he's spent close to half a million in here. He's a very good customer and a very nice man, always has been polite. If he ever needed something specific and special I would always find it for him. I'm assuming you are law enforcement, but perhaps I'm wrong."

"Federal Agents, Deeks is one of ours." Callen said.

"Deeks, is that his last name?" Bill asked.

"He never told you his last name?" Kensi asked.

"No need for names here. He told me his first name, five years after he first started to come here."

"Did he say anything else to you that day about why he needed the cameras and locks?" Callen asked.

"Just said that someone was after him and he needed to make sure that his home was safe while he wasn't there. He didn't want Monty to get poisoned again. It's not my place to question someone's safety. Plus with what I gave him, once he was inside his home he was as safe as can be."

"How did he pay for things over the years? Cash?" Kensi asked.

"No always with a bank card."

"Do you have any records of past transactions?" Sam asked.

"I do for other customers, but I don't for Martin. Like I said he's been a good loyal customer and I've never had a problem. He's always paid with a bank card. Even if I did keep records for him I wouldn't have them for that long."

"Has he ever mentioned anything over the years? Anyone following him or threatening him?" Callen asked.

"No never. The first and only time was when I saw him last and he said someone poisoned Monty to get to him. Honestly, I had no idea he was anything more than a private investigator. I figured it was some disgruntle cheating spouse of one of his clients."

"Okay, how often has he been in?" Kensi asked.

"He used to come in more often when he was younger, but once he had everything set up for his job he started to come in twice a year. He didn't buy something every time, sometimes he would come in just to see if anything caught his interest or was new. Usually when he did purchase something it was an updated version of one of his programs for his laptops."

"Laptops? So he had more than one?" Sam asked.

"Five. Each one was specific to what program he was using it for."

"Do you know what they were?" Callen asked.

"I do, when he came in for each one he wanted specific requirements to each one so the laptop would hold up to its use. He also bought additional screens to mount on the wall, for multiple live feeds. The one laptop was used for strictly live feeds of whatever he had under surveillance. The second one was used for breaking down the videos and pictures, audio things like that. He could use it to isolate voices and images. The third one was purely for hacking purposes. He had a lot of programs on it to help him; he did say he had a good basic start of hacking abilities when he was nineteen. The programs helped him get the rest of the way. The fourth was a combination of the previous ones that he used when he wasn't at his office. The last one was the most secure. It stored all of his information for every case he's ever worked. It's extremely protected and has a Dead Bolt system installed on it. Its password protected and you only get three tries at it. After the third failed try the program automatically deletes everything from the Hard Drive. The password would be something he created and it needs to be changed once a year or the program will delete all data. All of the laptops with the exception of that one are connected. So you can bounce the screens back and forth for ease of use."

"And you believed he was a private investigator with all that high tech equipment?" Kensi asked.

"This is L.A, home to the rich and famous. I had no reason to doubt that he was anything more than just a private investigator. There are a lot of stars and rich C.E.O's that require the skills of a private investigator. All of which will pay very well. I certainly had no idea he was a federal agent. He didn't come across as one. Though, he didn't come across as a private investigator either, he was more of the suffer type, but it makes sense he would blend in. Based on your questions you truly had no idea about any of this. It seems that Martin was more private of a person then I thought."

"He's very private. Can you think of anything else, anything that might be helpful?" Callen asked.

"No I'm sorry. If I do I will call you, I just need a number."

Kensi handed Bill her card and he spoke.

"I hope you find him. Is Monty missing as well?"

"No Monty is fine, I have him. Thank-you for your help." Kensi said.

"If you have any more questions I'll be here."

"Thanks" Sam said.

The three of them left the shop with even more questions than they had before. They went over to Kensi's car and stood outside of it. Kensi leaned against her driver side door.

"None of this makes any sense." Kensi said.

"We've worked beside Deeks for almost four years. During those years has there ever been a time when he was gone?" Sam asked as he tried to search his memory.

"Just the odd two day operations for LAPD." Kensi said.

"But we don't know if he did go for LAPD, or what he does on weekends. Maybe he is a private investigator and he's been doing it this whole time." Callen said.

"Why not tell us though?" Sam asked.

"He would have, because he would have complained about following rich men cheating on their wife. He would have made comments and complained about it over the years to someone, to me." Kensi said.

"He's obviously been doing something since he was eighteen. So let's just entertain the idea of him being a P.I. for a second." Callen said.

"Eighteen, you are graduating high school, going to college. Deeks wanted to go to law school so maybe he started to be a private investigator to help pay for school." Sam suggested.

"Ya, but if he's making that good of money to afford that type of equipment, why go to law school at all? Why become a cop?" Callen asked.

"He's always said being a cop is who he was. Maybe he wanted to be more than a P.I, maybe it was just temporary to help pay the bills and student loans off." Kensi said.

"He would definitely need the help with student loans. You're looking at almost a hundred grand in student loans for law school, plus whatever he had to pay for the police academy. He would never have been able to pay off the student loans on a cop's salary." Sam said.

"Maybe being a P.I. was just a way to help him pay everything off." Kensi said.

"Ya, but you need a license to be a private investigator, at least until he got his badge. So if he was there would be some kind of paper trail for it." Callen said.

Callen got a text message and pulled out his phone.

"It's Eric, Granger and Hetty are back at Ops and they want us in. Let's head back and we can talk this out. We'll have Eric and Nell look for a license in Deeks' name and see if he even was a P.I." Callen said.

"And if he wasn't?" Kensi asked.

"I have no idea. If this wasn't Deeks I would be thinking a lot of different things right now. This is Deeks though, so I know he wasn't doing anything illegal. Eventually this will all make sense; we just have to figure it out." Callen answered.

They all got in their cars and then made the drive back to Ops. Everyone was trying to figure out what all of this new information meant. They had no idea that Deeks had any of this equipment or what he was doing with it. Clearly he had more skills then he had ever let on with computers. They got back to Ops and they immediately headed upstairs to the Ops center. Hetty and Granger were standing by the table on one side and Eric and Nell were on the other.

"Okay what do we have so far?" Callen asked.

"The truck wasn't registered to anyone. From what we could tell it was abandoned and whoever took Deeks stole it. CSI's are going to go through the whole thing and run prints and DNA. We should have the results back by the end of the day." Granger said.

"What did you find at the store?" Hetty asked.

"Deeks might be a private investigator." Kensi stated.

"Based on what?" Granger asked.

"The store owner said that Deeks had been coming there since he was eighteen and on a fairly regular bases. Deeks has bought five laptops, screens, cameras, lens, microphones, scramblers, programs and more. All high end, all high tech. The store owner said that Deeks has spent close to half a million dollars over the years there." Callen said.

"How is that possible? He's on a detective's salary." Granger said.

"The only way it would be is if he is a private investigator. Eric, check and see if Deeks has a license for it; go all the way back to when he would have been eighteen if you have to." Callen said.

"The store owner called him Martin, so check both Martin and Marty." Sam said.

"What else did the store owner say?" Hetty asked.

"He knew we were there about Deeks. Deeks went in the day Monty went into the animal hospital. Deeks told the owner that someone was after him and poisoned Monty. He then bought all the cameras and locks. He also told the owner that one day we would be coming around asking about him and that he should tell us everything he knows. So Deeks knew something was going to happen." Kensi said.

"Which begs the question, if he knew someone was after him, why didn't he ever say anything?" Callen said.

"We might not get that answer until we figure this out." Granger said.

"No license was ever issued to Martin or Marty Deeks." Eric said as he came back over.

"So if he was doing it, he was doing it without a license." Sam said.

"Or he wasn't a P.I." Callen said.

"But what else could he have been? We all know Deeks wasn't dirty. He got the money for the equipment from whatever he is doing with it. So if he wasn't a private investigator what could he have been doing?" Kensi said.

"What was on the laptops?" Nell asked.

"The shop owner said that one was used for live feeds, another for hacking purposes, another for breaking down and analyzing videos and photos. One held a combination of all four for traveling purposes. The last one was used as storage with a Dead Bolt system in place." Sam recalled.

"Whoa, there's no way a private investigator would ever need that much security. Even if he was looking into the rich and famous. That's the type of security we would use." Eric said.

"But what else could he be? He wouldn't need this equipment as a detective." Callen said.

"Not only that, where is the equipment? I've been to his apartment lots of times and I can tell you right now there isn't a room with a bunch of high tech equipment. I mean a high end camera with a long lens, that doesn't make any sense. I've seen Deeks use a disposable camera. I had to force him to buy a digital one. This isn't the Deeks we know." Kensi said.

"It's like we're investigating a complete stranger." Sam said.

"Apparently, we don't know Deeks as well as we all thought we did." Granger said.

"What about his finances? Was there anything in there?" Callen asked Eric and Nell.

"Just normal everyday things. We did find that Deeks didn't have any credit cards in his name, no second account not even a safety deposit box. However, the vet bill didn't come out of his account. So that brought us back to the poisoning. We looked all through past news articles and we didn't find anything about a recall. So I called the manufacturing and they said no call was ever made. That there was nothing wrong with the dog food. Plus no one has been fired or quit in the last year." Nell said.

"So he did lie about the poisoning. Again though, why?" Sam asked.

"I don't know, but if the money for the vet bill didn't come from Deeks' bank account and he has no credit cards. How was it paid?" Eric asked.

"Well Monty was at the animal hospital, Deeks didn't lie about that. Maybe he paid cash?" Kensi asked.

"No large cash withdrawal was made." Nell said.

"And it would have been at least a couple thousand for the week stay in the hospital, plus treatment and blood work." Callen said.

"Is the animal hospital records kept electronically?" Hetty asked.

"Most likely. We can call them and see how it was paid, but they might not give us much over the phone, but we can try. If they have a paper copy of the bill then we can at least see how it was paid for." Eric said.

"Try and if not then one of us will go and speak to them." Callen said.

"When you were at his apartment did you search it?" Granger asked.

"We found the cameras and we looked around, but we didn't toss the place. He has overdue bills and an eviction notice though." Sam said.

"I'll handle his bills and landlord." Hetty said.

"Maybe you should go back there and toss the place. See if the equipment is even there." Granger said.

"Maybe he had a partner? Maybe he was doing the investigation work with someone else, an old friend, a retired cop maybe." Kensi suggested.

"Let's just stop for a second and think this through. The last day we saw Deeks he told Sam that when he comes back he just might surprise him. We know that was about him joining NCIS. He told the shop owner that one day we would come there asking about Deeks. Deeks knew someone was watching him, someone was after him. He obviously didn't know when it would happen, but he knew something would. He told the store owner because he knew we would come looking. He was starting to get some cards down on the table for whatever reason. Did he say anything to any of us in that last week that he was here? Anything that doesn't seem right?" Callen asked.

"No he barely spoke to me all week. He knew that I knew he was hiding something so he avoided me." Sam said.

"I wasn't here." Granger said.

"Max" Kensi said softly as she started to realise what was going on, what she had missed.

"What?" Callen asked.

"Deeks kept saying Max Gentry, when he normally just says Max. That's not all though, when we were outside saying goodbye he said that one day Max Gentry just might answer a very important question to me. What if this has to do with Max somehow?" Kensi explained.

"Look up everything you can on Max Gentry." Hetty said to Eric and Nell.

Eric and Nell went over to their computers and started to type away. Trying to find everything they could on Max Gentry.

"Deeks has used that alias the most. Maybe he had an old enemy, or maybe someone found out he was actually an undercover cop." Sam said.

"Okay, but why the store owner? We could have figured out someone was targeting Deeks by the cameras and locks in his house. Why make sure the store owner tells us about all the other equipment?" Callen asked.

"You think it's connected?" Granger asked.

"I think this is weird. Here's a guy that we have known for four years. A guy we have worked beside for four years. Not once does he ever mention he does something on the side. Not once has he ever mentioned doing private investigations. He's never cared about anything high tech, except a gun. Yet here we are; he's been missing for six months. He knew someone was after him, but didn't say anything to us. Yet he can tell a store owner that someone was targeting him and poisoned Monty to get to him. He doesn't need us to talk to the store owner to figure out that someone is after him. Yet he tells the store owner that we would be there one day and to tell us everything. Why does the equipment matter? Why is he dropping hints about Max Gentry? He wanted us to know about the equipment. He wanted us to look into Max Gentry. Yet he couldn't just tell us from the start? Why go through all this trouble to drop hints, when he could have just flat out told us." Callen said.

"It's like we're playing some kind of damn game, but why though? Why leave these hints?" Sam said frustrated.

"He obviously couldn't tell us something." Granger said.

"But what? After everything we have all been through together, he must have known it would have been better to tell us then for this to happen." Kensi said.

"Why Mr. Deeks never said anything may only be answered once we find out who it is." Hetty said.

"Let's look at it this way, what if he had to leave these hints? If he knew who was after him he would have done something, but maybe he figured out where the person was from. Maybe it's a cop that took him." Kensi suggested.

"Why not tell us though? I know we don't have that answer, but even if it was a cop he could have told us." Sam said.

"What if it wasn't a cop, but an agent? What if it was someone on the inside?" Callen suggested.

"If Deeks thought by telling us it would put any of us at risk, he would have kept it to himself." Kensi said.

They all looked at each other and they could all tell they were all trying to think of who it could possibly be. If there was ever a time someone showed any hatred towards Deeks, but no one came to mind.

"Alright, that's a possibility. Maybe Max Gentry had a run in with someone, or a past history with someone that we don't know about." Granger said.

"We do have a few new members to the unit in the last year." Hetty added.

"Eric, Nell run any new Agents to this unit within the last two years. See if any have a past connection with Deeks or Max." Granger said.

"We do have one other problem though, if it is a cop, all of LAPD is out looking for Deeks." Sam said.

"I'll have Lt. Bates compose a list of any police officer that has had a problem with Mr. Deeks in the past and we can check them out." Hetty said.

"Ok we have Max Gentry's bank account." Eric said as he put it up on the big screen. "Now it stays empty when he is not active. When Deeks left for the operation money was placed into the account by LAPD's cover name. Three weeks later the remaining balance was transferred back out and the account is left at zero." Eric finished explaining.

"We did however, find something interesting. Max Gentry has a safety deposit box at National Trust Bank. Based on the logs the day Monty went into the animal hospital, that afternoon just after three Max Gentry opened his safety deposit box. He was in and out within five minutes." Nell added.

"We don't have a key though." Kensi said.

"You'll have a warrant by the time you get there. Max Gentry is a made up person that belongs to the LAPD. The bank keeps spare keys around in case someone loses theirs. Go to the bank I'll make sure you have the warrant." Hetty said.

Callen, Sam and Kensi left Ops and once again got back into their cars. They all felt like they were chasing hints all over town. They didn't understand what any of this meant or if any of this was even connected to each other. They did know that Deeks was missing and someone was after him. He clearly had started to plan something and now they were left to try and figure it out. Kensi was just hoping that they would be able to figure out what Deeks was trying to tell them. They pulled up to the bank and sure enough Callen got the warrant on his phone. They got out of their cars and headed inside the bank. They made their way over to the safety deposit box clerk and Callen showed him the warrant as he spoke.

"We need to see inside Max Gentry's safety deposit box now."

Kensi and Sam held up their badges as Callen spoke so the clerk got the whole picture.

"Do you have the key?" The clerk asked as he read the warrant on Callen's phone.

"No we don't. So get the spare we don't have time for games." Sam said in a serious voice.

The clerk looked at Sam's face and they could tell he was a little afraid of him. He just gave a quick nod before he went into a locked drawer to pull out the spare key.

"Follow me"

They followed the clerk into the safe and over to Max's safety deposit box. The clerk used both keys to open the safe and then pulled the box out and placed it down on the table.

"Thanks." Callen said and the clerk just gave a nod and left. He could tell that he wasn't wanted around.

Callen opened the box and inside it was just a piece of paper and a book. Kensi grabbed the paper while Sam grabbed the book. The book was an old paperback called 3rd Degree by James Patterson.

"Why put a book in a safety deposit box?" Sam asked as he flipped through the book, but no lose paper fell out.

"I don't know, but it meant something for him to keep it." Callen said.

Kensi opened the piece of paper and inside was two words that spoke volumes to her.

"River dance" Kensi said softly.

"What?" Sam asked.

"River dance. We need to go back to his apartment." Kensi said with perfect clarity.

"Why what does rive dance mean?" Callen asked.

"When we were looking for the nuke at the suspect's house. Deeks figured out that it must be hidden underneath the house somewhere, but he didn't say that. All he said was river dance and started to stomp on the floor. It took me a second to figure out what he was trying to do. We need to go back to his apartment and bang on the floor. He's hiding something." Kensi explained.

"Let's go, bring the book with us. It means something to him." Callen said.

The three of them left the bank in a hurry and all but ran to their cars. Sam had the book in his hand and handed it to Callen once they were in his car. They all took off for Deeks' apartment. They didn't know what they would find, but they were hoping whatever they did find, would lead them to a suspect. Callen flipped through the book and read the back of it to see what it was about. It was a murder mystery, the third book in a series. From what Callen could tell there wasn't anything hidden in the book. Callen continued to go through the book while they drove over to Deeks' apartment. Once there he put the book down and got out along with Sam. They all went back up the stairs and over to Deeks' apartment. Kensi opened the door and they went in. Immediately they started to stomp on the floor. They didn't know where they would find something, but they were hoping they would find whatever it was that Deeks wanted them to find. They went from room to room and they had yet to find anything. They got to his bedroom, the last room in the house. Sam went over to the bed and pushed it out of the way so they could check underneath it. They continued to stomp when Kensi heard a different thump right in the middle where the bed was. Sam and Callen's head snapped up at the sound and looked at Kensi. Kensi got down on her knees with Callen and Sam right beside her. They started to feel the floor and knock on it trying to find where the hidden spot on the floor was.

"Here's the edge." Kensi said.

"You got your knife on you?" Sam asked.

"Ya" Kensi said as she pulled out her knife.

She used it to pick up the loose floor board. Once she got it up four more were clued to the lose one. Sam grabbed the boards and placed it down on the floor beside him. Underneath the floor was a locked metal box, about the size of eight inches by eleven inches, just big enough for a normal piece of paper to fit inside. Kensi grabbed the metal box and lifted it out. It wasn't heavy at all. She placed it down on the floor, she pulled out her lock pick set that she keeps in her back pocket just in case. She picked the lock in seconds and then she opened the lid. Inside there was a flashdrive sitting on top of a brown manila envelope. She held up the flashdrive and Callen grabbed it.

"We'll have Eric look at this right away." Callen put the flashdrive into his pocket.

Kensi grabbed the manila envelope and noticed that it was pretty thick. She opened it and pulled out the paper that was inside of it. She was shocked to find that it was a stack of pictures, all eight by eleven, all of Deeks. They had time and date stamps on them so they would be able to tell when they were taken. Kensi began to flip through some of them; some were of Deeks walking to his car, or around the street. The pictures got more disturbing though as they were clearly photo shopped, but violent none the less. Callen and Sam were looking over her shoulder as she flipped through some of them. Sam noticed the date on one.

"That photo was taken five years ago." Sam said.

"He's known about this for years." Callen said.

"This photo was nine years ago." Kensi said.

"This is unbelievable. He should have said something long ago." Sam said.

"We need to get back. We need to know what is on this flashdrive." Callen said.

Kensi put the photos back in the envelope and they didn't bother to put the floor back. She would come by later and do it once they had Deeks back. Right now they just needed to find him. They left the apartment and Kensi made sure to lock it. They got back into their cars and they headed back to Ops, they needed to know what was on the flashdrive. Whatever Deeks was trying to show them or tell them, he had left the flashdrive for a reason. So far all they had was photos, a flashdrive and a book that has some importance to this, but what they didn't know. Kensi didn't understand why Deeks never said anything to her. She would have listened, she would have helped. Surely he must have known that. After everything that has happened between them she thought he would come to her if he needed something. He had been in danger this entire time and he never said anything to her or to the team. Kensi couldn't help, but feel hurt and a little betrayed that Deeks didn't tell her about any of this. She would have helped; she would have made sure he was safe so she didn't lose him. Once again one of them was missing, once again he was missing and she had to find him. He had found her and now it was time for her to find him. The problem was Deeks had been missing for six months, the odds of him still being alive were impossible. Kensi couldn't think about that right now though. She had to focus on finding Deeks. She had to find him alive; this couldn't be the end to their thing.

They got back to Ops and they all headed upstairs to see everyone still in the Ops center.

"What did you find?" Granger asked.

"In the safety deposit box was this book and a piece of paper with River Dance written on it. That triggered a memory that Kensi had of when her and Deeks were looking through the suspect's house for the nuke. We went back to his apartment and stomped on the floor, we looked through the whole place. There was no equipment that the store owner mentioned at his apartment. We found a metal lockbox under the floor boards in his bedroom. Inside was this envelope with pictures of Deeks going back nine years. There was also this flashdrive." Callen said as he held out the flashdrive to Eric.

Kensi took out the pictures and placed them down on the table for Hetty and Granger to look through. Eric plugged in the flashdrive into the computer and opened it.

"It's a video file." Eric said.

"Play it on the big screen." Granger said.

Eric transferred the file over to the big screen and then loaded the video and began to play it. They saw that it was Deeks sitting down in front of his laptop. They could tell that he was in his bedroom from what was behind him on the wall. They could see the sadness in his eyes. They watched him take a breath before he began.

"Hey guys, if you are watching this then you know I'm missing. Depending on how long it takes for you to find this, I may already be dead. It's okay though, because I know you will figure this out and you will get this person. By now you all know that there are secrets that I have been keeping. You know that someone has been stalking me, hunting me, for a long time now. It's been ten years, but for some reason it feels like longer, like it started before I noticed. Maybe I'm just paranoid though. I'm sure the second thought that came to all of your minds was why I didn't tell you. I want to make this very clear it wasn't that I didn't want to tell you; it was that I can't tell you. The words won't come out. If I could get the words out I would have told you. Hetty, I would have told you that very first day you wanted me to be your liaison officer, but I can't and couldn't tell you. I know that this doesn't make any sense to you. I promise it's not anything personal, it's not because I don't trust you I do. This will make sense to you, why it had to be this way. Why I had to do it this way instead of leaving a note or telling you."

Deeks rubbed his hands over his face and they could tell he was frustrated by this situation. After a moment he continued.

"I don't know who is after me. I feel like I should. I feel like I'm missing something huge and once I find that piece all of this will make sense and the person will become clear. I know whoever it is, is smart, because I've never seen him or her. Him, I believe it's a him. I don't know when it started, I just remember at times feeling like I was being watched, but I never saw anyone that looked out of place. Over the years there have been people I've suspected, but never could get any evidence to prove one way or another."

Deeks looked down for a moment and they could tell he was thinking about what to say.

"He's trying to figure out how to word this." Callen said.

Deeks looked back up at the camera and spoke.

"I've been a lot of people over the years, some more important than others. Some operations even the smallest one can have meaning."

"Run all his aliases to see if any of them have safety deposit boxes." Callen said quickly.

Eric and Nell turned to face their computers and got to searching as Deeks continued.

"When I started this, I was alone. I never expected to be a part of a team. I always thought if I went missing Ray would be the one to try and find me. I know you will go through everything; you'll go back as far as you need to and I want you to know that it's okay. I know you need to snoop and go through everything to try and figure this out, to try and find me. I don't know what part of my life this person came from so I get it and its okay. You can contact Ray, I'm sure Hetty knows how to find him, get in touch with him. He might be able to answer some of your questions about before you knew me. Before anyone knew me. Tell him I'm sorry and that I love him and my little godson." Deeks' voice cracked and Deeks cleared his throat before continuing.

"I hope you are able to figure out my clues. Once you find this then I know you figured out that Max was the key to start opening the doors. I wish I knew who this person was. I can tell you that whoever it is; has not been in jail for the past ten years. The pictures were put in my mailbox, even when I've moved he's easily found me. I've tried everything, changing cars, phone carriers, phone numbers, apartments and yes my routine. I don't know why me. I don't know why it started. I don't even know when it started for certain. I wish I had more answers for you. I wish I knew how to help you. At this point there are only two very important questions you need to answer. Where am I and who took me? I don't care how you come to get those answers as long as you do."

Deeks let out a sigh and took a collective breath before he started to get to the hard part.

"I'm not one for goodbyes, but you all have become my family. The only true family I have ever known, even Granger." Deeks gave a smirk and the others couldn't help the small smile. "Eric, Nell,"

Eric and Nell turned to look at the big screen at the mention of their name.

"You two have been like a little brother and sister to me. I can't thank you enough for everything you've done for me. Especially you Eric, for all those times late at night or on the weekend I needed you to backstop an alias for me. Nell, I was proud to be your partner those times that we did partner up together. I know you will be a great field Agent when you are ready for that step. Even though you guys aren't in the field you keep us safe, you've kept me safe. Without you two, I don't think any of us would have survived some of the things we've been through. Nell, I'm going to miss playing chess with you and losing horribly. You're a sweetheart and I hope you never lose that spark of life in your eyes. You help to remind us to have fun. Eric, I'm going to miss surfing with you. You got skill. It was nice having you out there with me some mornings. You always understood what the ocean meant to me. What it symbolizes.

Callen, you were a great leader and I hold nothing that happened with Sidorov against you. I know you have always felt like it was your fault, but it wasn't. We all stood behind you and your decisions. I never blamed you. I know we never talked much on any form of a personal level, but we didn't need to. I always felt like you got it, you understood what that loneliness meant. What it felt like. You were a lone wolf before the team and so I was. I don't trust easily and I didn't trust any of you for a while. You showed me though that I could. If someone like you could trust them then I knew I could. On days that were bad, bad day for me, I knew I could just look in your eyes and I knew that at least someone understood the pain. It helped a lot more than I could ever say. You didn't give me a hard time when I joined the team. You treated me like any other new Agent that came aboard. I don't know if you trusted Hetty on picking me or if you saw something in me, but I appreciate all the Saturdays we spent in the kill house going over tactical procedures. For all the pointers you gave me. You helped me become a better cop. You helped me be able to keep my partner safe. I can't thank you enough for what you've done for me.

Granger, we've never really worked together, other than a few occasions. We definitely didn't like each other at first. However, when shit hit the fan you were there, you had our backs. Whether we were in the right or in the wrong, you had our backs. I can't tell you how much I appreciate you risking your life to save Kensi's back in the desert. You didn't have to, you could have believed she was dead and ended the mission, but you didn't. It doesn't really matter if we got along or not, because you are a good man and I know you will keep them all safe.

Hetty, I have never understood why you picked me. Out of all the other Agents and police officers you could have had, you picked me. I'm glad you did, even if I will never understand what the hell it was you saw in me. I don't want you to blame yourself; this isn't something you have read about. This isn't something you could have found. When you do find out why I couldn't tell you, well, I pity the person you talk to. You always knew about growing up, but you never judged me for it. You never forced me to talk about it. You knew everything and you just accepted me. I can't tell you what that means to me. I never wanted to disappoint you and I hope I haven't. You are an amazing woman and I hope you never change or give up. Everyone needs a Hetty Lange in their life. I'm glad I could have the pleasure of knowing you for however long I got with you.

Sam, big guy, we definitely had a rocky start. The past is the past though, and I'm glad that we were able to move forward and become friends; at least I think we are. No matter what happens in life, take care of that little girl. You are a Seal, you are an Agent, but most importantly you are a family man and that should always come first. Take it from someone who knows how it's feels not to have one. No matter what, be a husband and a father first. You are a great man and I know you are a great father and she is going to appreciate that every day of her life even on the days she doesn't show it. You were always the protector of the team. You would rather be hurt then see someone you know getting hurt. You have a huge heart and it's rare in this world. I know out of everyone you will be blaming yourself the most, but this isn't your fault, this isn't anyone's fault. Nothing you or anyone could have said would have made me been able to tell you about this. You couldn't have done anything to change this outcome. All it would have done is frustrate you more and more. I've always admired you, looked up to you. You made me want to be better. You made me want to push myself and train just to earn that respect. Regardless of how I did earn part of it, I'm glad that I did, even if that meant getting tortured with you. Sam if there was anyone I could have trusted with this, it's you. If I could have told someone I would have told you first, because I know you would have done everything you could to keep me safe, to keep the team safe. I hope after you find out everything, that I don't lose whatever level of respect that I have from you. No matter what though, you be a father to that little girl and make sure she doesn't find out what monsters really are. Keep her innocent and naïve for as long as possible, before she finds out what the real world is really like. I know you'll keep your family and the team safe. Kensi"

Deeks let out a breath and they could see him trying not to cry. He was trying to collect himself for what he needed to say. Kensi already had tears in her eyes from just hearing what Deeks had to say to the others. She didn't know if she could handle listening to him saying goodbye to her.

"I'm so sorry sweetheart, it seems like I'm going to break that promise to you. I never wanted to break that promise to you. I know you are pissed with me right now and that's okay. I don't know when you will be watching this, where we will be at. I can only hope things between us are good. I don't know if I'll ever get to tell you face to face this, but I love you. Even if as you watch this and we haven't spoken in years, I'll always love you. You are my Fern. I couldn't have asked for a better partner, friend and girlfriend. You are an amazing woman, you're Wonder Woman. I know you will figure this out, you'll understand what I have left behind. You will always have a special place in my heart. I will always love you, even if you hate me. Take care of Monty for me. I know you will love him and spoil him. You are special to me and you will always be special to me. I never wanted to hurt you and I'm so sorry I can't be there for you. You are the strongest person I know. Don't cry for me princess. I want you to move on. To find love and be happy. All I have wanted was for you to be happy. I just wish I could be the one to make you happy. To see that smile on your face."

They could see the unshed tears in his eyes and he Deeks took a moment to collect himself once again.

"Before I met any of you, I was alone. I didn't it all on my own and I didn't trust anyone. I spent my days being a completely different person. I hated when I wasn't undercover, when I had to be myself. You guys taught me that it's okay to be myself; that just being me is enough. You showed me that I am more than just some street kid putting bad guys away. You all believed in me, even when I didn't believe in myself. I can never thank you enough for everything you have taught me. I don't want you to grieve. I want you to enjoy life. When all of this is over, do me a favor regardless of the outcome I want you all to go down to the beach and ride one for me. You guys are my family and I love each and every one of you. I know you will figure this out. I believe in you all. I give you my word I'll fight as hard as I can. I'll survive as long as I can. I just hope it'll be enough. I love you all. Surfs up." Deeks said the last part as he held up the surf hand sign. They watched as the screen went black.

The room was dead silent. Kensi and Nell had tears going down their faces silently. Everyone had a painful look in their eyes as it truly kicked in. Those could very well be the last words that Deeks ever says to them. When they find him he could be dead, long dead and there would be nothing they could do about it. Callen wasn't going to let this happen. He wasn't going to stop looking until they found him, or his body. He wasn't going to stop until the person who had been hunting Deeks for ten years or more was dead or in jail. Callen's eyes filled up with determination.

"He's not dead until we find a body. We can all stand here and feel sorry, or we can do what we do best and get this son of a bitch that took our friend." Callen said with a fierce determination.

Kensi and Nell both wiped their eyes and Sam's eyes hardened. Callen had made the point they all needed to hear. Deeks wasn't dead until they found him dead. Each hour that passes that his body doesn't turn up is another hour that he is still fighting to live. He was counting on them and they were not about to let him down.

"There are ten past aliases with safety deposit boxes, all at different banks, all opened within the last six years." Eric said in a serious voice.

"It's going to take about an hour to get those warrants. Until then Sam, go through the book. Deeks left it for a reason find out what. See what it's about maybe what the book is about is connected to the alias. Callen and Kensi go over the pictures, see if you can find any clues as to who this person is. Eric and Nell; keep following the money, the vet bill and the equipment got paid somehow. Also get a timeline going of Deeks life, this person has been around for ten years. Go as far back as you can nothing is too personal or unimportant. This guy was able to hunt and stalk Deeks for ten years; he is not to be taken lightly. We don't know how long we have. LAPD is looking for Deeks' car and they are searching for his body. Regardless of how this turns out we will find the man that is doing this to him." Granger said.

"I will make some calls and then go and check Mr. Deeks' mailbox and see if anything was put into it." Hetty said.

"I'll get the warrants." Granger said.

"Deeks is being evicted; I was going to speak to the building manager about the situation." Sam said.

"I will handle the bills and the building owner. You all just focus on finding these clues that Mr. Deeks has left." Hetty said.

"I'll get started on the warrants." Granger said as he pulled out his cell phone and headed out of Ops to make the calls.

Hetty left Ops and headed down to her desk so she could make a phone call before she went over to Deeks' apartment to speak to the building manager. Callen grabbed the photos and started to spread them out on the table. Kensi began to organize the photos by the date. Sam grabbed the book and headed downstairs to start going through it. He didn't know what the book was about or if it was even important. Deeks left the book there for some reason, but it didn't mean the book itself was important. Deeks may have hidden something inside the book for all they knew. Hetty went over to her desk and sat down. She had a call she needed to make before she left to go over to Deeks' apartment. She picked up her phone and dialed the number that she knew off by heart. She had made a call to this man before and he had been there for the team when they needed it. Hetty knew that no matter what the outcome of this would be the team needed him once again. After four rings the familiar voice came over the line.

"Hetty, I don't have long to talk. Is everything alright?"

"No Mr. Getz everything is not alright."

"What happened?" Nate asked with concern.

"Your mission has been postponed for the see able future. You are to get on the first plane out of there and back to L.A."

"What is going on Hetty?"

"I will send you an email with all that we know so far. The important thing for you to know is that Mr. Deeks is missing. We just found out this morning that he has been missing for six months. Someone has been hunting him and we need to find this man and Mr. Deeks. You are to come back here and work with the team until further notice."

"I'm on my way. I'll be there within twenty-four hours. Send me everything you have so I am able to hit the ground running."

"I will. Be careful and I will see you when you get here."

Hetty hung up the phone and then took a moment to get her thoughts in order. Nate would be here tomorrow some time and she would pair him up with Kensi. One to keep an eye on her mental and emotional state after everything that has happened in the past year and a half. The other was because she needed a partner until Deeks was found and back. Hetty didn't want to put Kensi with someone brand new, so for now Nate would have to do. He has gone out with Deeks before so he wasn't new to field work. Hetty didn't know what she would do if Deeks was dead or didn't come back. Kensi wouldn't tolerate a new partner very well. She also knew that she couldn't keep Nate on the team as a field agent. He was needed overseas and that is where he preferred to be. For now Hetty wasn't going to think about that. She was only going to focus on what she could do and right now she could go and make sure that Deeks had a home to come back to if he was still alive. Hetty got up and left Ops so she could go and see Deeks' building manager and check his mail.

It was just over an hour later when Granger had Kensi and Callen come down from Ops. He had gotten the warrants and he wanted to get everyone organized so they could go and check the safety deposit boxes. Once Kensi and Callen were downstairs they went over to Granger who was standing next to Sam.

"The warrants came in. Everyone takes their own cars and they go to their assigned banks. Kensi you go to these two, Callen you go to these three, Sam you go to these two and I will take the last three. Get whatever is in the box and put it in an evidence bag and label it with the alias that is connected to the box. We don't know if what is placed in each box is connected to the alias. Deeks did this for a reason and we can't risk mixing everything up. Get to the banks and then come back here and we will go through it." Granger said as he handed each one their warrants.

"Did Hetty hear anything back from LAPD?" Kensi asked.

"Not that I know of. She left about an hour ago she should be back by the time we get back." Granger answered.

"Let's go." Callen said.

The four of them left Ops and got into their own cars and took off for the direction of their banks. All they could do was hope that they would find something to help lead them to where Deeks was or who took him.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

It was an hour later when everyone had returned from the banks and Hetty had returned from Deeks' apartment. She went through his mail and all there was were unpaid bills and shut off notices. Hetty knew she would need to call the companies and explain the situation and make sure the bills get paid up to date. They were all in the Ops center looking at what they found in each safety deposit box.

"Eleven different aliases, eleven different safety deposit boxes, eleven different banks and now eleven different books." Callen said confused.

"Why books?" Sam asked.

"I have no idea. I mean Deeks reads and these all look like something he could have read. When he does read he likes murder mysteries." Kensi said.

"But do the books have any meaning or is something hidden in the books?" Sam asked.

"I flipped through the pages in mine, but I didn't see anything." Kensi said.

"In the book that was left in the Max Gentry box there were four page numbers that were circled, but that's it. The other two books I got didn't even have that." Sam said.

"Mine didn't either." Granger said.

"Mine didn't. Maybe those numbers mean something?" Callen said.

"But the other books must have some meaning to them; otherwise why go out of his way to place them under an alias. There's something about these books." Sam said.

"So either Mr. Deeks put these specific books under those specific aliases for a reason. Or he put something in these books, because they were the ones he had on him at the time and the alias could just be the alias he had at the time." Hetty said.

"The only way to find out is to read the books and see if the book has anything to do with the alias he placed them under." Granger said.

"Nell, Eric, did you guys find anything?" Callen asked.

"We're still trying to get a timeline together. Deeks' past has some serious holes and we are trying to put it all together. Thirty-five years is not an easy task. We did find something a little weird." Eric said.

"Weird how?" Sam asked.

"Well after finding eleven aliases with safety deposit boxes we thought maybe there was an alias with a bank account. We turned up nothing. We were able to get the Vet to finally send us a copy of the bill they gave Deeks. He paid with a bank account and we were able to trace that bank account back to another bank. We were only able to get the last five digits of the account number so we ran those digits with the name Marty or Martin. And we found this." Nell said as she put up the bank account on the big screen.

"We found the bank account that was used to pay not only the vet bill, but for the equipment. It's under Martin Brandel, Deeks' birth name." Eric said.

"Once we found the account we went and searched for a legal name change. Turns out Deeks changed his name when he was twenty-one to his mother's maiden name, Deeks." Nell added.

"Okay so Deeks has two bank accounts. He could have been using this one as a savings account." Sam said.

"Or it was an account he had when he was younger." Kensi added.

"Well banks don't keep records that go into the juvenile age. Banks also don't consider anyone an adult until they turn twenty-one, so we can only see the records from the age of twenty-one and up. It's safe to assume that this was an account Deeks had since he was younger." Nell said.

"Having the account isn't the weird part." Eric said as he brought up the list of transactions and the balance in the account. "The balance is the weird part." Eric said as they all saw the balance.

"Is that right?" Kensi asked.

"We checked, nine hundred thousand and change in the account. Large sums were deposited; they varied from forty thousand up to eight thousand." Eric said.

"You are aware of what this looks like." Granger said.

"Deeks isn't dirty." Kensi said with anger.

"I'm not saying he is; I'm saying it looks like it." Granger said.

"Clearly he had a second job somewhere." Sam said.

"Maybe Deeks was a private investigator, but someone else had a name on the license, or he used an alias." Callen supplied.

"We can check, but so far nothing. Now he could have passed on getting the license because he is a cop and he was a lawyer. So maybe he worked around it, but there wouldn't really be the need to either. It wouldn't take much for Deeks to get a license for private investigations." Nell said.

"He's always used this account for the spy gadget store. Now we've looked at both of Deeks' accounts. His Deeks account has the basics of life, food, rent, bills, pet store, etc. The Brandel account has more major and expensive purchases, like the vet bill and all of the equipment. There is a yearly amount that has been coming out of his account automatically since he was at least twenty-one that we can see. It's just over five grand, each and every year. We traced it and found out that it is a condo fee for a condo in West L.A. We have an address and it's in the Villa Di Lamdeni building." Eric said.

"Those are million dollar condos." Granger said.

"And that's just what they start at. How could Deeks afford something like that before the age of twenty-one?" Callen asked to no one in particular.

"No idea, but it's registered under Martin Brandel. We also did a little bit of calendar math. We've only gone back to since Deeks started working here and we're going to keep going back to make sure it isn't some coincidence." Eric said as he put up a calendar up on the big screen. "Okay, we know Deeks went undercover for the LAPD a week after he began working here. So Deeks goes undercover for LAPD and everything is fine. A month after he gets back forty thousand is deposited into the Brandel account. Six months later Deeks told us he was supposed to be going under for LAPD on weekends working a case. That case lasted three months, but there was never a case for LAPD. We checked that case never existed. Yet three months later when he said the case was over another forty thousand was deposited in the Brandel account. It's like that three more times sometimes on weekends, once on a vacation time he booked off with both us and LAPD. All of the amounts vary, one was as high as eighty grand." Eric said.

"Since Deeks has started working here the amounts have all been right around forty thousand, except once. The distance between them also vary more. Before he worked here the amounts were higher, some doubled and they happened more frequently. Whatever he's doing for this money, he's slowed down since he's been working here." Nell said.

"Well we know Deeks isn't dirty so we can rule out any illegal activity." Sam said.

"Everything is pointing to him being a private investigator." Callen said.

"Ya, but you don't need the level of security that Deeks has for being a P.I, even to the rich and famous." Eric said.

"There's got to be some kind of explanation for all of this." Kensi said.

"Whatever Mr. Deeks is doing, he has slowed down since coming to work here." Hetty said.

"Okay, so what is the difference between working full-time at LAPD and working full-time here?" Callen asked.

"He's here every day. I know when he was at LAPD he wasn't always needed to be in for work. He would be out on the streets working informants and trying to find ways into gangs or arms dealers." Kensi said.

"So he has less personal time. So whatever he is doing requires more free time then he is getting here. So if he isn't a private investigator, what could he be?" Callen asked.

"A lawyer, but the equipment wouldn't make sense." Sam said.

"He can't be doing something for LAPD; they would never pay these amounts." Kensi said.

"So what does that leave?" Eric asked.

"It has to be investigations. That's the only option." Callen said.

"We're missing something. He has high level security, security that we use here. If he is doing investigations, it's for people and companies with enemies and the money to use to pay him like this." Granger said.

"What was the name for the deposits?" Hetty asked.

"It was blocked out. We haven't been able to access it." Nell said.

"So someone that didn't want their name attached to anything. What about a political figure? Someone high up enough on the ladder that they can afford these amounts and need complete security." Sam suggested.

"Maybe Deeks wasn't looking into cheating spouses, but threats. If it was someone in the political world, they would have threats. Maybe Deeks was investigating the threats. If the threat was real enough he would be able to arrest the person." Kensi said.

"That still doesn't help us figure out who took him. This was planned; Deeks has been stalked for ten years. A political threat wasn't what got him kidnapped." Granger said.

"It could have been from back then." Kensi supplied.

"Owen is right, a political threat wouldn't have waited this long to get revenge. Mr. Deeks would also have known who it was. Still I believe that whatever it is that Mr. Deeks was doing does have some meaning to this. If not then there was no need for all of that information from the shop owner." Hetty said.

"Well, all of the equipment must be in the condo. So let's go check it out. We can bring the laptops back here and see if Eric can get into them. If we can get the information out of the one, we might be able to figure out what he was doing." Callen said.

"There is one purchase that I was able to recognize from the Brandel statements. He purchased a safe from a different store. The type of safe was in the statement and it's one of the highest safes you can get. They are usually installed inside a wall and are one foot by one foot by two feet. They also require an eight digit number code to open it. The number has to be between one and ninety-nine, the code is also picked by the owner." Eric said.

"So maybe those page numbers are the numbers to the safe." Callen said.

"I'll write them down and we can try and find the safe." Sam said.

Sam opened the book and wrote the numbers down in order.

"I have called Mr. Getz, he is coming back home and will be here until we find Mr. Deeks. What happens after that I do not know, but for now he will be here. He won't be in until tomorrow sometime and I have sent him an email with the information that we had so far. I will continue to update him as the information comes in so when he is here, he will be on the same page as everyone." Hetty said.

"Good, once we get a suspect we may need his profiling skills." Callen said.

"Search the condo and try and get the paperwork for it. If nothing else see when he bought it and how." Granger said.

"Let's go." Callen said to Sam and Kensi.

The three of them left Ops once again and got into their cars. Callen went with Sam instead of taking his own car. They took off for West L.A. They couldn't believe that Deeks had a condo, especially in that building. That building was always amazing inside and they had only seen pictures of the condos online. The thought of Deeks owning a condo in this building blew their mind. It wasn't like Deeks to have something fancy. He was a simple man; he liked to have things in his life simple. It's why he lived in his apartment. It was on the beach, the building owner was nice and he simply liked having the comfort of living in a place where he didn't have to worry about repairs. Deeks didn't come across as a million dollar condo type of man. Deeks was obviously making good money doing whatever it was that he was doing. They didn't understand why he would work for LAPD if he could make this type of money. They didn't understand why he was living in his apartment if he had a condo. Or the better question why have the condo if he wasn't going to live in it. None of this was making any sense and the more they looked into the man that they had worked beside for almost four years, the more they found out that they truly didn't know him.

They pulled up to the building thirty minutes later. The building was gorgeous and it backed onto the ocean. They had a feeling that was part of the reason why Deeks picked this condo building over the others. They got out of their cars and headed inside. The doorman smiled and held the door for them. They went over to the security desk to see a security guard sitting there. They held up their badges as Callen spoke to the security guard.

"Federal Agents. We are looking for Martin Brandel."

"I haven't seen him in months. His condo is up on the twenty-third floor, 2308."

"Do you have a key?" Sam asked.

"We're really not supposed to give keys to anyone without a warrant."

"We can always kick the door in, but we would rather not make a big scene in front of all the other residence." Callen said.

"Let me call the condo manager and you can speak to him about it."

The security guard picked up his phone and called down to the condo manager. After a moment the security guard hung up his phone and turned back to them.

"He'll be down in a moment. He's bringing the spare key from the office."

"Thank-you." Kensi said.

They went over closer to the elevators and waited for the condo manager to come down to them. Two minutes later an older man in a suit came over to them. He held his hand out as he spoke to them.

"Hello, I'm Anthony Taylor, I am the condo manager. I hear you would like to enter Mr. Brandel's condo."

Callen shook the man's hand as he spoke.

"I'm Agent Callen; this is agent Hanna and Agent Byle. We need to enter Mr. Brandel's condo. He is missing, has been for six months now. We need to search his place for any clues as to where he might be or who took him."

"You know I always had a feeling his work was going to catch up on him one day."

"Why do you say that?" Kensi asked.

"He was very security conscious. He never had anyone over, never has been to any of the condo parties, or meetings. He pays his condo fees in full each and every year on the same day. He never talked about his family, job, life, nothing. He was too private. We all speculated what he did, but none of us ever knew."

"So you don't know what his job was?" Sam asked.

"Not a clue, but whatever it was required him to look casual and wear expensive suits on any given day or night. He also has a vehicle storage room down in the underground parking as well as a parking spot, D5 it's on the third parking level same as the storage locker. I brought the keys to his storage room as well."

The condo manager handed Callen both keys. Callen held onto them.

"When did he purchase the condo?" Sam asked.

"He was nineteen, on his birthday. I was skeptical, but who am I to say no to someone wanting to out-right buy a two million dollar condo? He's never given me any problems at all over the years. Unless you saw him coming or going you wouldn't even know he lived here."

"And it didn't seem odd to you that a nineteen year old would have that kind of money?" Kensi asked.

"Not really. This is L.A. He could have had rich parents, it could have been inheritance; for all I knew he could have been famous himself. The building owner didn't care how old he was as long as the cheque cleared and it did. He bought one of the nicest condos we have. It's two stories, faces the ocean, hot tub, washer, dryer, jacuzzi tub, fire places, marble flooring and counter tops, three bedrooms, two bathrooms plus a fire pit on the balcony. It's on the penthouse floor. The building owner hadn't been able to sell it so when Martin came in and offered to buy it out-right the owner jumped all over it."

"So you've had no problems at all over the last sixteen years?" Callen asked.

"None. I hope he is alright and I hope you find him. He's a model tenant."

"We're doing our best. If we have any further questions we will come and find you." Callen said.

"I'm just down the hallway in the office."

"Thanks." Sam said.

The three of them went to the elevator and when it opened they went in and hit the twenty-third floor button.

"How can a nineteen year old have over two million saved up to buy a condo?" Kensi asked.

"Whatever he is doing, he clearly started at a young age. He's been buying the equipment since he was nineteen, but it must have started before that." Sam said.

"Or he was doing something illegal before and just saved up to get started with whatever he is doing." Callen said.

"Or he's working for someone and they gave him the money to get started." Kensi supplied.

"The more we learn about Deeks the more questions come up. It's like we are working with a stranger for these past four years." Sam said.

"Don't think of it like that. Think of this as just another side to who Deeks is. There is a lot that we don't know about each other and a lot that Deeks doesn't know about us. None of this changes who Deeks is. We know Deeks and we can't hold any of this against him." Callen said.

"I don't care if we find out he's dealing drugs, I just want him back alive." Kensi said.

"I highly doubt he's dealing drugs. There is an explanation to all of this. Hopefully Eric and Nell can get something off his laptops." Sam said.

The elevator door opened and they headed down to Deeks' condo. Callen opened it with the key and they walked in. They all stood there looking at the condo from what they could see, it was amazing. They took a minute to just look at the condo; they couldn't believe that Deeks owned this place. They slowly made their way through the condo looking from room to room on the main floor. They found a guest bedroom, a bathroom, a closet with towels and blankets, a kitchen that was breath-taking and a laundry room. In the living room in the corner was a spiral staircase leading upstairs. The one wall in the living room was floor to ceiling windows with the view of the ocean. Callen was the first to speak.

"Okay when we find him we need to have a serious conversation about him not inviting us over here."

"Think of the parties you could have in this place." Sam said.

"This is like the complete opposite of what Deeks' apartment looks like. This is unbelievable." Kensi said.

"Let's go upstairs. The safe is either going to be in the office, assuming there is one, or the master bedroom." Sam said.

They headed up the stairs and they still couldn't believe how insane this place was. The balcony was even two stories, with glass stairs outside cased in windows. The only thing wrong with the place was the dust from lack of use in the past six months. They searched the top floor of the condo and they found the office. It was hard to miss. There in the one room were the four laptops and six screens mounted on the walls. It was definitely high tech in this room.

"Wow, Eric would die to be in here." Callen said.

"We should take all four laptops back just in case." Kensi said.

"There's no filing cabinet, so no paper trail. He must have everything he needs in the laptops." Sam said.

"The safe would be hidden by a photograph I'm assuming. So that rules out this room." Callen said as he saw the walls were bare, with the exception of the screens.

"I'll keep looking while you unhook the laptops." Kensi said.

Sam and Callen went to unhook the laptops from all of the cords connecting them to each other and the screens. Kensi went down the hallway and into the master bedroom. The room was huge and there were floor to ceiling windows in this room as well along the water side of the building. The bed was on the opposite side so it looked right out at the ocean. Kensi couldn't help, but smile. It was a Deeks thing to do. To go to sleep and to wake up looking at the ocean. This place still held who she knew Deeks to be and that brought comfort to Kensi. It meant that at least she hadn't been played and lied to all of these years. Deeks was who she knew him to be and this was just a different side to him, one that she wished he had told her about. Kensi couldn't help, but notice the electric fireplace in the room. She also saw the master bathroom and the jacuzzi tub big enough for four people. There was also a marble shower stall, two sinks and an electric fireplace in the wall by the tub. This place was complete and total luxury. Kensi heard Sam and Callen walk up behind her.

"Wow this place just keeps getting better and better." Callen said.

"That view is amazing. When we find Deeks remind me to ask him if I can borrow it for a romantic weekend." Sam said lightly.

"Get in line." Kensi said as she went over to the walk-in closet.

She opened it and saw that there were clothes hung up inside. It was organized by casual and formal. The suits were high end and made to fit. Martin Brandel definitely had money and an image to maintain. Kensi started to move the clothes so she could see the walls behind them. There was nothing behind the clothing though. There was a shoe and tie rack and Kensi pulled on it just to see if it would move. She didn't expect it to so when it pulled out on the left hand side she was surprised. She pulled it more so it swung open like a door to the right side. Behind it was a small safe.

"Guys, I found it." Kensi called out.

Callen and Sam came into the closet, both without the laptops that they placed down on the bed. Sam grabbed the paper with the numbers and he began to punch them in. Sure enough the red light turned green and Sam pushed the handle down and opened the safe. Inside there was another metal lockbox. He took it out and brought it over to the bed with Callen and Kensi right behind him. This lockbox was five times the size as the one he had in his apartment, but Kensi was able to pick the lock just as easily. Once the lock clicked she opened the lid and inside they were shocked to see a gun, badge and case files filling the lockbox. Kensi grabbed the badge and was surprised to see that it wasn't his LAPD badge.

"Oh my god." Kensi said as she looked at the badge and name on the badge.

"What?" Sam asked as he and Callen looked over to see the badge.

There on the badge in big letters was C.I.A. Martin Brandel. There was a picture of Deeks' face as photo proof.

"He's a C.I.A. Agent?" Callen asked as he looked at both of them.

Shock covered all of their faces as the pieces started to fall into place. The equipment, the money, the condo, the expensive clothing and the secret keeping; Deeks already was an Agent just not with them.

"This doesn't make any sense. I mean it makes perfect sense about everything we just found out, but it doesn't make sense at the same time. He could have told us. He loved being a cop he said that is what he was, who he was. Yet he was an Agent with the C.I.A?" Kensi said clearly just as confused as the rest of them.

Callen and Sam grabbed some case files and started to go through them.

"This one is from Christmas holidays." Sam said.

"This one is just a few months before that. These must be in order. He's kept them all it looks like." Callen said.

Kensi went down to the bottom and grabbed the very last file. She opened it and she saw a very young looking picture of Deeks.

"Guys, this is from when he was sixteen." Kensi said.

"That can't be possible. The C.I.A. can't have Agents under the age of twenty-one and that's if you are lucky. Normally it's twenty-five by the time you get out of the academy. There's no way a sixteen year old could be doing operations." Callen said.

Sam had grabbed the files and turned them over so the bottom ones were on top. He grabbed a few and started to see the years and age of Deeks.

"That's not the only one. This one he is sixteen as well. There are forty of them at that age, than it goes to seventeen and up until he's thirty-five." Sam said.

"That would explain where he got the money from. How he could afford the equipment and this place. Still though, this doesn't make any sense. Why not tell us? He knew I was in the C.I.A, he knew you were for a short amount of time, that's where we first became partners. It wouldn't have been that big of a deal." Callen said.

"Shocking, but not a big deal. Plus Hetty should know about this and in that message Deeks said that this is something Hetty didn't know." Sam said.

"But maybe Hetty didn't know. If she did she would have told us by now. Maybe not before Deeks went missing, but once we found out he was she would have said something." Kensi said.

"So then why hide it? Why would the C.I.A hide this? I can tell from the files I briefly looked at that Deeks was undercover." Callen said.

"Maybe they didn't want anyone to know about having a sixteen year old undercover agent?" Kensi suggested.

"Ya, but Deeks isn't sixteen anymore. Once he turned twenty-one why hide it?" Sam asked.

"Why would Deeks go through law school and the police academy if he was already an Agent? What would be the point in going through all of that only to keep working as an Agent?" Callen asked them as well.

"Well one thing Deeks said was dead on." Sam said.

"What's that?" Kensi asked.

"Hetty is going to crucify someone. Whoever is the one behind all of this is about to get an ear full from Hetty. I keep seeing the same Agent's name, Agent Anderson." Sam answered.

"Me two." Callen said.

"Me two." Kensi said.

"Looks like Agent Anderson is Deeks' handler or superior." Sam said.

"So why hasn't he tried to find Deeks?" Kensi asked.

"Maybe Deeks told Agent Anderson that he was going undercover for LAPD like he did us." Kensi said.

"That's probably it." Sam said.

Kensi looked in the lockbox and noticed that the bottom was a fake bottom. She lifted the bottom up and saw that there was a large file hidden underneath. It wasn't thick; it was just a large size for a file. Kensi took it out and pulled out the paper only to see that it was actually an x-ray. She held it up to the window so the sunlight would shine onto the image so they could see it more clearly. It was an x-ray of the top of Deeks' spine and his head.

"What is that?" Sam asked as he pointed to the top of Deeks' spine as there was something in his spine that was coming through on the x-ray.

"I have no idea." Kensi said.

"It's not broken or Deeks would be paralyzed. Maybe it's a shadow on the x-ray." Callen said slightly unsure.

"Then why would he have it?" Sam asked.

"This is important for him to keep and keep hidden in not only a safe, but in a false bottom of a lockbox. Look at the date; it's when Deeks would have been sixteen." Kensi said.

"We can have Eric pull hospital records from this hospital to see what happened on that date. Deeks kept it for a reason, now we just have to figure out why." Callen said.

"Let's go down and check the storage locker. Then we can get back to Ops and start to process everything." Sam said.

"I'll call Eric and have him look up the medical records while we search the storage locker." Kensi said as she put the x-ray back in the brown cover.

They put everything back in the lockbox and took it plus the four laptops from the condo. They all headed down to the underground parking and storage area. While they were on their way Kensi called Eric to tell him about the hospital records. Callen pulled the key out and saw that it had the number twenty-eight engraved on it. So they went to the twenty-eighth storage locker and when they got there Callen unlocked it. Inside they expected to find a vehicle, because it was a vehicle storage room. They didn't expect to find a Suzuki motorcycle and a cable work van inside.

"Surveillance van?" Kensi suggested.

"Probably." Sam said as he tried to open one of the doors, but it was locked up.

"Can you pick one of the locks?" Callen asked Kensi.

"I should be able to." Kensi said as she put down the lockbox and pulled out her picking tools.

She went over to the driver side door and began to pick the lock. It took a minute, but she was able to get it to unlock. She opened the door and hit the unlock button so all the doors would open. The van was white with cable written in red letters on both sides. There were no windows or side doors. The only doors were the two in the front and the two in the back. Callen and Sam both put their laptops down and Callen opened the back doors. Sure enough more equipment was set up in the back of the van. This was Deeks' surveillance van. Callen went in and began to look around. He found another laptop sitting there so he grabbed it as well.

"Now that we know he was C.I.A. this is all starting to make sense at least." Sam said.

"Except for the part that he didn't tell us and that Hetty didn't even know." Kensi said.

"Ya well just think pretty soon we'll be able to speak to Agent Anderson and lay into him." Callen said as he got out of the van.

"Should we tow this to our impound?" Sam asked.

"I don't see the need. The equipment won't lead us anywhere. Maybe there's something on the laptops. Hetty is going to kill him when she finds out he has another motorcycle." Callen said.

"It's a crotch rocket not a motorcycle." Sam corrected.

"It's a high end crotch rocket." Kensi said.

"True" Sam said.

"Come on let's get back and figure out what the hell is on these laptops. We can check his parking space too." Callen said.

They all grabbed the lockbox and the laptops and headed over to Deeks' parking spot only to find it empty. They figured that he just drove the same car, but they would have Eric and Nell look into it just in case. They headed back to their cars and drove back to Ops once again. They just needed to get all of the pieces first and then they could start to put the puzzle together. For the first time since they found out Deeks was missing, things were starting to make more sense. If they could just figure out why he never told them then they might be able to figure out who was after him. They had been chasing his hidden clues around the whole town and now they might be getting somewhere. They had another person they needed to speak to now, Agent Anderson. Maybe he would have more answers to their questions. They got back to Ops and Sam and Kensi headed straight upstairs while Callen went over to Hetty's desk to grab Hetty and Granger. Once everyone was upstairs they all gathered around the table once again and Callen began to explain.

"Deeks bought the condo flat out when he was nineteen and he's had it ever since. The condo manager said Deeks has been a model tenant despite how young he was. He also said that no one knows anything about him. He doesn't talk about his job, family, friends; nothing personal at all. He lives on the penthouse floor, the condo is two stories and unbelievable. We found the equipment in the office on the second floor. These four laptops are from the office, the fifth we found in his surveillance van that was kept in vehicle storage that was offered by the condo building. We didn't know if you could get anything Eric, but we brought all five of them." Callen said.

"I'll see what I can get off from them. Hopefully I can figure out what the password is for the Dead Bolt laptop." Eric said.

"I found the safe in his closet. Inside the safe was this lockbox. Inside were files, a gun and badge." Kensi opened the lockbox and took out the badge she opened it and placed it down on the table for them to see. "Deeks is a C.I.A Agent." Kensi stated.

The shocked faces of Eric and Nell were to be expected, but the shocked faces of Hetty and Granger only confirmed what they had hoped. They had no idea.

"Are you sure?" Eric asked.

Granger grabbed the badge and sure enough he could tell it was genuine.

"This badge is real." Granger stated.

"When?" Was all Hetty asked.

"He has every case file he's ever worked." Callen said as he took out the pile of files, there were easily five hundred case files they had to go through. "The first case he's worked was when he was sixteen years old." Callen finished.

"That's not possible. The C.I.A. can't legally have anyone under the age of twenty-one and even then they don't allow anyone under the age of twenty-five to join." Granger said.

"Deeks was apparently an exception. He's got cases that he's worked from the time he was sixteen until thirty-five. He was on a case for them during our Christmas break." Sam said.

"All of the reports that we read, and we didn't go through all of them yet, but they all had the same superior agent, Agent Anderson. Our money is on that he is the one that Deeks said you are going to crucify." Callen said.

"I'll be getting in contact with him and I will find out what the meaning of all of this is." Hetty said in a deadly tone.

"There was one more thing in the lockbox. It was hidden underneath the fake bottom. It's an x-ray of Deeks when he was sixteen. I called Eric to see if he could find out about it. There's something in his spine it looks like." Kensi said as she pulled out the x-ray and showed the others.

"Eric, were you able to see what it was?" Sam asked.

"I'm still trying to find it. Juvenile medical files are sealed so it's a little bit of a work around. However, I think I know what it is."

"What is it then?" Callen asked.

"Now I haven't confirmed it yet, I need the medical records and we are working on getting all of Deeks' medical records to help with the timeline. But, based on the location, the size of it, the year, and now knowing he's a C.I.A. Agent I think it's a microchip."

"Like a tracker?" Kensi asked with hopefulness.

"Not that kind of microchip. Nineteen years ago companies started to produce microchips for ways to track your dog or your cat. The C.I.A though had other ideas for it. They started a research team to try and create their own microchip to implant in their agents, mostly undercover ones. It was extremely experimental and dangerous. The microchip would have to be implanted in the person's brain steam and into their nerves. They tried it on lab animals and over ninety percent of them didn't survive the surgery within that first trail year. Afterwards they started to get better results, but it was still a fifty/fifty chance that you could either be fine or you could die or be paralyzed. After a three year trial a higher level of the government came in and told them to shut it down, but they didn't know that a handful of the agents actually survived the surgery and were working."

"What's the microchip do Eric?" Sam asked forcefully. It wasn't that he was glad to hear about the background of it, but he wanted to know what the hell it did.

"Deeks kept saying that if he could talk about it, that he can't talk about it and that he couldn't leave a note. Deeks meant it. If I'm right, he literally can't get the words out. Physically his mind won't let him speak about anything connecting him to the C.I.A and he can't write about it. The microchip could be programed so the C.I.A could make it so that a person couldn't talk about something. In Deeks' case it would be programmed to make it so he can't talk about being in the C.I.A or write about it." Eric explained.

"With Deeks unable to talk about being in the C.I.A; then when he goes on undercover operations there is no threat of him talking to save his life." Nell added.

"Why would Deeks agree to that?" Kensi asked to no one in particular.

"Because he would have been a sixteen year old boy who shot his father when he was eleven. Who knows where his mother was. Clearly he was bullied into it, into to all of this." Sam said with anger.

"Even if his life depended on it, he wouldn't have been able to tell anyone about this. He's missing right now, because he couldn't tell us, because of that microchip." Callen said with anger.

"Can it be removed Mr. Beale?" Hetty asked.

"With the level of technology we have, it can be. Obviously the better the surgeon the lower the risks of paralysis and death during surgery there are." Eric answered.

"With the microchip gone, could he talk about the C.I.A?" Granger asked.

"He could right away. The microchip is what is stopping him. I could be wrong, but I think that's what it is." Eric said.

"It makes sense now. We all believed he would have told us and when he didn't it made no sense. Now it does, he couldn't tell us no matter how much he wanted to." Kensi said.

"And he did want to; you could see it in his eyes. He wanted to tell us a long time ago, but he couldn't. Whoever the Agent was that bullied him into this better pray he never comes across me. He was sixteen years old and he was taken advantage of. God knows how many other times his life was in danger and he had no one there to help him or to protect him. He needed our help, he needed our protection and he didn't get it because of that stupid microchip. He had to leave clues and hints behind in hopes that someone one day would come looking for him. He needed us and we couldn't be there for him." Sam said with dead anger.

"We can be now. We have the hints he left behind. He wanted us to find all of these things. Now we know why he didn't tell us. Now we know he was C.I.A. Now we have someone else to contact, but we also have five hundred more suspects. We don't have time to be angry. Deeks doesn't have the time. Eric, go through the laptops and get anything you can off from them. See if Deeks left anything for us to find. Nell, keep trying to get the timeline together and the medical files. Callen, Sam and Kensi go through all of the files and get a timeline together for his C.I.A. cases and get them up on a board so we all can follow along and get the timelines together. Go through the files and see who the targets were and get a list together to see who is dead, in jail or out free. The pictures were taken starting ten years ago so focus around that time, but don't limit yourself to it, we don't know if there are more pictures that we haven't found. I'm going to go down to the crime lab and start putting pressure on them for answers." Granger said.

"I will update Mr. Bates on what we have found as well as Mr. Getz. I will also be contacting the C.I.A and see if they can tell me who this Agent Anderson is. I will also send out another Agent to get something for all of us to eat. We have been going at this all day now. I know none of you have eaten anything." Hetty said.

"We just want to find Deeks." Callen said.

"I understand that and so do I, but you are no use to him if you do not have the strength to keep looking." Hetty said.

"What about contacting Ray?" Kensi asked.

"I will get in touch with him once Mr. Getz is here. He will need to hear it and I'm sure he will have his own questions." Hetty replied.

"Let's get to work people." Granger said.

They all went their own ways. Granger left Ops to go over to the crime lab to see if they had found anything yet. Hetty went downstairs to her desk to make a few calls. Nell and Eric went to work on the timeline and the laptops. Sam, Callen and Kensi grabbed the files and went down to the bullpen so they wouldn't disturb Eric and Nell.

They had all been working for hours. They ate the pizza when it was brought to them, but they didn't stop what they were doing while they ate. At some point Granger had returned from the crime lab and helped them go through the case files as well. None of them had even realized how long they had been going at it. They didn't realise the other agents leaving for the night. They didn't realise that the sun had gone down. They didn't realise the number of trips to the coffee marker they all had made. They didn't realise the sun coming back up. They didn't realise the agents returning. They didn't even realise the time or that they had worked all through the night. It wasn't until Nate walked into the bullpen did they realise just how much time they had missed.

"Hey guys." Nate said as he saw that all of them still didn't look up when he stopped walking.

Nate had his bag in his hand and it was clear that he hadn't even gone home yet to change or drop his bag off. He just came straight over from the airport.

"Hey Nate." Kensi said.

"It's good to have you back." Callen said.

"It's good to be back, though I wish it was under different circumstances. Hetty has kept me updated on everything so far. Is there anything new that I might have missed?" Nate asked.

"Ah Mr. Getz it's good to see you back on solid ground. Why don't we all go up into Ops and go over what we have so far." Hetty said from behind Nate.

They all got up and followed Hetty upstairs. Upstairs in Ops there were multiple boards covered up with a timeline for Deeks' life. There was one that Callen, Sam, Kensi and Granger had made sometime last night for the C.I.A operations as well. They all gathered around the table and began.

"Now Mr. Getz do you have any questions about what you have read so far?" Hetty asked.

"No I'm clear on the situation. I'm surprised that Marty is a C.I.A Agent, but I'm clear on what was discovered so far."

"Good. I'll start. Mr. Bates did not know that Mr. Deeks was a C.I.A Agent and he is not pleased with what we have found out. He's not happy at all that a microchip was placed in Mr. Deeks to keep him from talking about it. He would like to be there when we do question Agent Anderson." Hetty said.

"I can understand that. Deeks was his man for ten years it would make sense for him to be angry over all of this." Sam said.

"The crime lab has found prints, but they weren't able to get an I.D. So whoever this man is hasn't been arrested or in a job that required fingerprints." Granger said.

"But if we have a suspect then we can match fingerprints. What did LAPD say? Did they find anything yet?" Callen asked.

"Not yet, but Mr. Bates has men working around the clock to try and find Mr. Deeks' car." Hetty said.

"Any luck with the medical files or the laptops?" Kensi asked Eric and Nell.

"Okay so out of the five laptops, four of them weren't any help. They had just programs on them and no information stored on the laptop anywhere. All of the information was stored on the fifth laptop with the Dead Bolt system in place. Deeks had it set up so that all of his laptops were connected to that one laptop so no matter where he was or what he was doing all information would be transmitted and saved on the fifth laptop." Eric said.

"Were you able to get into the Dead Bolt system?" Callen asked.

"You only get three tries at it, but thankfully Deeks changed the password a few days before he went undercover. The password was Kensi." Eric said and paused for a moment in case any of them had a comment on it. No one spoke so Eric continued. "The information is extensive and there's a lot of it. I'm still trying to go through it all and eliminate people who aren't suspects. The list you guys gave us, we are going through them and trying to see who is out of jail and has motives to go after Deeks. It's a huge list though from just the C.I.A alone, not to mention the list from LAPD, the DA's office and from ten years ago. It's unfortunately going to take me a while to narrow it down to something more manageable." Eric said sadly.

"What is the number at right now?" Granger asked.

"Between everything, about a thousand suspects." Eric said gently. He knew that would be a large number to accept. The problem was Deeks was very good at his job.

"Deeks is very good at his job, all of his jobs and he has a lot of them." Nell said as she grabbed both boards and wheeled them over to the table. "Okay this is complicated and it's amazing that this is actually someone's life. We don't have much information about Deeks before he was sixteen and even then it's spotty. His medical records were sealed, we unsealed some of the ones we have been able to find and were able to confirm what we all suspected; Deeks was abused growing up. The abuse started when he was three on his third birthday, literally his third birthday. His father, though the medical records don't actually state that it was him, but we can all agree that's who the abuser was. Anyways, his father beat Deeks into a three week coma. Deeks suffered multiple injures the worst was actually brain damage. The brain damage came from multiple blows to his head and being three his skull wasn't strong enough to protect his brain. The brain damage is still there, but Deeks has been able to overcome it. The brain damage was done to part of his cerebrum the damage done to that part of his brain caused Deeks to have a serious speech problem as well as learning problems. Deeks has a drawl now, but when this injury occurred he might not have been able to talk at all or had a stutter. It also made it very hard for him to learn in school. The brain damaged caused him to have dyslexia. Until he was able to cope with it and work around it, reading would have been difficult as well as writing. Anything that had to do with reading or writing tests would have been unbelievably hard for him. What would take a normal person time to read and understand a chapter in a book, for Deeks it would have taken five times that amount. In school he would have had to read the same chapter ten or fifteen times before his brain was able to remember it and process it. It's why he has such a hard time spelling and why he takes longer to fill out his reports as well as why his writing is so messy." Nell explained.

"Did you know about this?" Kensi asked Hetty.

"No and I suspect that the LAPD don't as well. The only access to medical files that I have for Mr. Deeks are when he was nineteen and older. Juvenile medical records are always sealed. If the LAPD knew about the brain damage Mr. Deeks wouldn't have been able to be a police officer for the risk of damaging that area further." Hetty said.

"I can't believe this. Do you know how many times I've made fun of him because he can't spell a simple word? Or how it takes him three hours to write one simple report and called him lazy." Sam said.

"All the times we make fun of the way he talks. All the times at night he's asked me for help to finish his reports and I call him lazy. How many nights have I left and he's been here for hours just to get his reports done alone? I can't believe he's never said anything about this. I would have helped him." Kensi said.

"Deeks didn't tell us, because he didn't want us to treat him differently. Every time in the field that he took a hit to the head. It would have just made all of us paranoid and he didn't want any special treatment." Callen said.

"What else did you find?" Granger asked.

"After that it gets spotty. He's in and out of the hospital with different injuries, broken bones, skull fracture, concussions, and stitches. A few reports to social services, but nothing was ever done all the reports were closed with Deeks still in the home. Now we have the police report from when Deeks was eleven and shot his father. Both Deeks and his mother were in the hospital for serious injuries. Deeks was once again in a coma for three months this time around. When he did wake up the detective got his statement, but Deeks couldn't remember too much of what happened. Basically, Deeks came home found his father drunk and attacking his mother. His father turned on him once his mother was unconscious. At some point Deeks ran upstairs to his room and his father followed him. He beat Deeks within inches of life. Deeks said he remembered his father leaving and thinking it was over. Only he came back in with a loaded shot gun and pointed it at Deeks. Deeks reached under his bed and grabbed the thirty-eight revolver and shot first. The bullet hit his father in his chest. Deeks then managed to somehow get to a phone and called 9-1-1 before he lost consciousness. His father was arrested and put in prison. Deeks' mother made a full recovery and once Deeks was allowed to leave the hospital he went back to living with his mother, in the same house." Nell said.

"What about his mother? Was she stable and didn't have any enemies? Was she angry at Deeks?" Sam asked.

"We have no idea. We did look her up and she is still alive, Allison Deeks. She has a long criminal record all for drug related charges and prostitution. The first arrest for drug charges was back when Deeks was twelve. So either she started using after the incident or she was using before, but never got arrested. She is still alive, but we haven't found her yet." Eric said.

"Could be someone that wants revenge against his mother." Callen suggested.

"It could be a lot of things." Kensi said.

"Okay, what happened after eleven?" Sam asked.

"That's where it got interesting. Before eleven Deeks never got into trouble. After eleven he went a little crazy. Six weeks after being released from the hospital Deeks was arrested for car theft along with Ray. For the next five years Deeks was in and out of juvi and the hospital for injuries from fighting, alcohol poisoning and drug overdoses, more specifically heroin. According to the medical records Deeks used to snort it, which causes people to OD more, because it takes longer to get into the blood stream. Because it takes longer users think they aren't high enough so they do more and once it all hits their blood stream they start to OD. Deeks' mother's drug of choice was also heroin only she used to inject it." Nell continued.

"Heroin was available and Deeks was used to the surroundings of drug use in the house. It wouldn't have been much of a jump for him to start using as well. Probably was using as just a means of an escape after shooting his father." Nate supplied.

"Deeks was in and out of juvi and on probation for car theft, robbery, drug trafficking, assault, and probation violation. Needless to say Deeks had some problems after the abuse and shooting his father." Nell added.

"Angry kid and a drug addict for a mother. It's a miracle he's still not running the streets." Sam said.

"This brings us to sixteen. Now we figured that a sixteen year old with this kind of record isn't just going to agree to be working for the C.I.A and have a microchip implanted in his brain stem. So we did some digging and found a police report. Deeks was drunk and stole a car. He crashed the car into another car where a husband and wife were killed." Eric began.

Sam let out a deep breath before he spoke. "So that set him straight."

"Not exactly. Here's the part that I don't even know if Deeks knows about. The crime scene techs looked at the car and found that the break lines were cut. So Deeks couldn't stop even if he wanted to. The second was the husband and wife, were already dead. Someone had killed them, shot them in the head earlier in the night. Police figured it was a car-jacking gone wrong. Now when Deeks was arrested he was arrested on two counts of vehicular manslaughter charges. He spent the night in lock up and was released the next morning on bail. Bail that was posted by Agent Anderson. Once the reports all came back from the Coroner and the crime lab Deeks' charges were dropped to just DUI. They didn't even charge him with stealing the car, because the owner of the car was just happy they weren't in it when the breaks went. Now we can't tell you why the C.I.A. wanted Deeks, but it stands to reason that they were playing mind games with him." Eric finished.

"Sixteen year old kid looking at two felony charges, could be charged as an adult and spend the next twenty-five years in prison. Some guy comes around bails him out, gets Deeks thinking he owes him one. Maybe even told Deeks that he was the one that got the charges dropped." Sam started.

"Then he gets Deeks to come work for him. Guilt him into getting the implant, maybe even bullied him." Kensi added.

"You don't do this I'll put you back in jail." Callen added.

"All possible scenarios, but why Mr. Deeks? Why would the C.I.A want a child and why him out of all the children they could have picked?" Hetty asked.

"We haven't been able to figure that out yet, but a week after the surgery, a sixteen year old Max Gentry starts to make a name for himself." Nell said.

"You're right this is getting interesting." Nate said.

"Now Deeks was running the streets we can all assume that. The C.I.A wanted to get to the major drug dealers. Deeks already had the knowledge and people knew his face. They might not have known his name though. This is something that Ray might have more information on, because he was with Deeks for most of the charges. We do know that the first operation Deeks went on for the C.I.A was for a drug dealer, he wasn't anything huge, but he had a lot of upscale clients that the C.I.A was after. Now after sixteen it gets confusing and the information becomes scattered again. He goes on a lot of different operations for the C.I.A. Deeks only got arrested when it was needed for Max Gentry. Deeks himself stayed out of trouble. Deeks went into law school and graduated in five years instead of seven. He took extra course each year so he would be out of school sooner. He graduated second in his class, which is amazing considering the brain damage. He also has the highest score for the California state bar exam in history still to this day. All throughout law school Deeks was still working undercover for the C.I.A. and even when he was working for the DA's office. He works in the DA's office for two years until he quits and goes into the police academy. He graduated from the academy ten years ago." Nell said.

"Right around the time the pictures started." Kensi said.

"We didn't find any police reports that Deeks made during that time. If he knew he was being stalked back then, he never reported it. Once Deeks became a cop he hit the ground running. He was in uniform for six months before he was transferred to the guns and gang unit. Six months later he was promoted to detective and placed in the undercover unit. All the while he is still going on operations for the C.I.A all of them vary in length some went on for a year, plus he was going undercover for the LAPD. In the last ten years Deeks has been going undercover for both LAPD and C.I.A sometimes at the same time. He's been helping the DA's office when they needed it for high profile cases, plus he's been working here." Nell said.

"And now we know why he drinks so much coffee." Kensi said.

"He's exhausted all the time. When we get weekends and holidays he just works." Sam said.

"He also volunteers down at the animal shelter and a soup kitchen." Eric added.

"He never gets a break. He's got to be burnt out by now. He can't keep doing all of this. His body needs rest and so does his mind." Callen said.

"Were you able to figure out just how many undercover operations Deeks has done since he was sixteen?" Nate asked.

"Between all three departments, eight hundred and ninety-one." Eric said.

"For a total of three thousand six hundred eight-five arrests." Nell said.

"Wow" Kensi simply said.

"He's been at it for nineteen years." Sam said.

"That's a problem though." Callen said.

"It's a huge problem." Nate agreed.

"What is the number of arrests or the operation number?" Kensi asked.

"The number of operations. Any undercover agent for the C.I.A isn't supposed to have more than ten aliases in his or her career. Once you hit that number they transfer you out." Callen said.

"Why?" Eric asked.

"Because it can fracture your mind. A person's mental health functions off of who you are. Every new alias you have to convince your mind you are that person. Then once the operation is over you have to get your mind back to being who you truly are. Any more than ten and your mind begins to have problems. You start to lose part of yourself and can lose who you are forever. Your mind gets trapped in that alias. Marty has been too many different people. He should have been pulled out of both the C.I.A and the LAPD undercover unit and placed into a different department. It's a miracle that Marty isn't having problems going back to who he is after so many aliases." Nate explained.

"He does have problems sometimes. He told me last year that sometimes it take a while before he is able to go back to being himself. That depending on the alias sometimes the alias just comes out and takes over. He said it's why he hates being Max Gentry, it's too easy to be him." Kensi said.

"Marty should have been out of the undercover work a long time ago. He can't be doing it all the time anymore, especially alone." Nate said.

"Has anything happened during the last ten years that have stuck out?" Callen asked.

"Not really. He's been in the hospital a few times from an operation, but nothing too serious. He's only been shot that one time with us, there have been a few stab wounds from fights, but nothing more serious than that. There have been threats, but again nothing serious. Now there is another way to look at this. Deeks has worked with internal affairs at LAPD and has been responsible for putting thirty-nine dirty cops in jail and an additional eighteen have lost their job for being corrupted." Eric said.

"A cop could have been stalking him and had taken him. Deeks was taken right after his operation had been completed. He wouldn't have thought twice about seeing a cop around him. A cop would know how to break in to his apartment." Callen said.

"It's possible, but that just brings us back to before, LAPD is looking for Deeks and his car. If someone on the inside took him, he could be obstructing the search." Sam said.

"We can't just tell all of LAPD to stop looking for him though." Kensi said.

"We are going to need to speak to Mr. Bates and see what he would like to do. He could keep those officers off the case." Hetty said.

"Are any of those officers out of jail?" Sam asked.

"Eight are out of jail; the others are in jail for close to life. They were giving information out to major gangs and cartels that resulted in officers being killed." Nell said.

"At one point Deeks actually had to be placed in a safe house and his lieutenant at the time was even considering placing him in witness protection from the threats of the families and other officers." Eric said.

"We need to get those names from Bates and start bringing them in." Callen said.

"But they can't be the one that took Deeks. They were all fingerprinted for the police force." Nate said.

"No, but they could have just hired someone to get Deeks." Kensi said.

"I will contact Mr. Bates and get this sorted with him. He will have access to personal police files that were not kept electronically. Was there anything in Mr. Deeks' background that raised any red flags?" Hetty asked.

"Not that we saw, but like I said it's spotty. This person could be from any one of his jobs or he could be someone that saw Deeks on the street and became obsessed with him." Nell said.

"All we can do until we have more information is to start eliminating who it can't be." Eric said.

"Start cutting down that list as much as you can. Once you get it cut down then we start bringing people in. I don't care if I have to bring in a hundred suspects and interrogate them." Granger said.

"What about the C.I.A? Were you able to find Agent Anderson?" Callen asked Hetty.

"Not yet, but I will. I have a few contacts in the C.I.A that owe me a favor. I will find him and have him brought to the boatshed. Now Mr. Beale, will you pull up that contact information that I gave you." Hetty said to Eric.

Eric grabbed his tablet and pulled up Skype and brought up a contact. He called the contact and a few seconds later Ray was on the big screen.

"Ray" Kensi said.

"Hey Wikipedia." Ray said sadly, clearly Hetty had informed him of the situation.

"We're going to find him Ray." Kensi said.

"I know you will. I'm just worried that he won't be alive when you do. He's my best friends, my brother; he's the godfather to my son. I'm not ready for him to not be here. So what do you need from me to help bring him home?"

"We need to know everything you can tell us about Marty. We need to know why he was taken and why he was chosen by this person. If this person isn't connected to a job Marty has done then we need to profile Marty. Anything you can tell us about him would be helpful." Nate said.

Ray let out a breath before he spoke.

"I don't know much about his life before he was ten when I met him. I was fifteen at the time and the moment I saw him I knew. It takes one to know one. In the neighborhood that we grew up in almost all of the kids were being abused or neglected. My dad would get drunk and if you didn't stay out of his way he would find you with a belt. Marty's dad though, he was just a monster, an alcoholic monster. Drunk or sober he would just go all out on Marty. He doesn't talk about it and I've never asked."

"Tell us about the first time you met Marty." Nate asked trying to help Ray get his thoughts in order.

"He was ten and I was fifteen. I had just moved to the area with my old man. My mom took off a long time ago, got sick of his crap. We lived like a mile from the beach so I went down there just looking for some guys to hang with. It wasn't busy. I saw Marty sitting on the sand. He was wearing these ripped up jeans, they were dirty and had little blood spots on them. He was wearing a t-shirt and I could see the bruises on his arms. He had a black eye as well. I went over to him and sat down beside him. He didn't even talk to me. I knew he was being abused. Like I said it takes one to know one. That area though, people didn't care. Not the other parents, not the teachers or the doctors. No one cared about any of us; we were just street kids, future criminals. That's all we were to any of them. After an hour of just sitting there I told him my name and he told me his. That's all that was said between us. We went home when the sun went down. I saw him here and there in the neighborhood. There was five years between us though, so we weren't in the same school. I made friends with the kids in my own age group. I spent a lot of the time down on the beach with them. They were surfers, I wasn't, but it was better than sitting at home. About three months later my friends and me we snuck out one night and spent the night on the beach drinking and getting high. It was about five in the morning when Marty came to the beach with this piece of crap child surfer board. He was just wearing swimming shorts and a t-shirt. I remember thinking he was insane, because the water would be freezing at that time. He didn't care though. We watched him go out into the water and for his age he was good. That got my friends' interested in him. When he got out we went over to him and they invited him to come back later on after school to hang out. They told him to bring his board. I didn't think he would show, but he did. My one friend, Justin, had an old wet suit of his that he gave to Marty and ever since we've been friends."

"Okay, but you've known Deeks for twenty-five years. You know more than that about him." Sam said.

"I know this is hard Ray. Deeks is a private person, but we need to know everything you know about him. It could save his life." Kensi said.

Ray let out a sigh and they could tell he was having a hard time telling them Deeks' past. They knew it wasn't going to be a pleasant past, but they still needed to hear it. After a moment Ray spoke again.

"He wasn't a bad kid, he had horrible parents. He wasn't a bad kid he just got lost for a little while." Ray said in Deeks' defense.

"We know he wasn't. Ray, we aren't going to use any of this against him. We already know he has a criminal record. We don't care. At the end of the day Deeks was an abused child who slipped through the cracks, but he got himself in a better place. He's a good man that's not going to change by anything you tell us." Callen said in a serious voice.

"We got arrested a lot, not always charged, but normally we were together for it. After Marty and I became friends and we starting talking, I noticed that he had a hard time sometimes. He would stutter when he got worked up. Obviously he doesn't anymore and he worked hard on it. I never asked about it, but one night about seven years ago we got drunk and he told me about the brain damage that his father did to him. He never told anyone, he didn't want anyone to think he couldn't do something because of it. He just wanted to be treated like everyone else. You already can find out about his criminal and medical record with your fancy computers. So I'll tell you what you can't find. His mother was a drug addict, heroin. Marty was a good kid until he had to shot his father. I gave him the gun six months after I knew him. He didn't want, but I could tell he was terrified of his father. He knew that one day it might just come down to him or his father. So I taught him how to shoot. I gave him the gun and told him to keep it close just in case it ever came the day that he needed to stop his father. That day came ten months later. Even when he was in the hospital his mother never came to see him. I was there with him each day waiting for him to wake up. When he finally did he went back home to his mother. She got into the heroin even heavier. She blamed Marty for his father going to jail. She hated him. She didn't lay a hand on him, but she didn't need to. She would just scream at him and say horrible things to him. What she told him messed Marty up even worse than anything his father did to him. When Marty really needed a parent she wasn't there for him. She became his next abuser. He started acting out in school and on the streets. He started to use the heroin just to escape from everything, to numb the pain. He wasn't a bad kid; he didn't have the heart for it. He had too much heart for it. Marty has always had strong morals I always knew he would get out of the game when he was ready. It was hard for him though, it was hard for everyone who grew up on the street, but Marty had a harder time. The things his mother and father said to him and did to him really screwed with his head. He used to get nightmares all the time. When we were working undercover together some nights he wouldn't sleep at all. He told me once that some days he could still hear their voices in his head. He's never gotten over it all."

"He might never get over it. Child abuse is never easy to overcome, but especially in Marty's case. Both of his parents were abusive on some level, plus it started at the young age of three. There will be times when he doesn't remember things happening, because of his age, but the only memories he would have of his parents are the abuse he went through. Those memories will always haunt him." Nate said.

"He was a good kid though. After his first arrest he was sentenced to do community service, so he did it at this animal shelter. To this day he still volunteers there. He would train the dogs, so when someone bought one, the dogs would behave and hopefully the new owner would keep them. A few of them had been German Shepherds, he put them in the police academy to be attack and scent dogs on his own dime. He's also volunteered at a homeless shelter and soup kitchens on holidays. When he was sixteen he entered surfing competitions until he was twenty-one and he was good at it. Agents used to come up to him wanting to sign him. They wanted him to go pro, but that wasn't Marty's style. He could have easily have done it and been great. Marty is really talented at surfing. Before he would show off whenever he was on the water, but people kept hassling him to go pro. So he stopped going to competitions and stopped showing off. When people are around him he goofs off so no one thinks twice, but when he's alone he doesn't hold back. He'll get up at three or four in the morning just to go surfing alone. All surfers love the beach and the water, but with Marty it was different. The ocean represented freedom to him. When he was at the beach he was safe, the first place he has ever felt safe at. Being at the beach and in the water, that's his safe haven and when he's there he can breathe. He was living at the beach practically after that last torture incident. It messed him up for a couple of weeks. He kept thinking he was turning into his father. We were talking every night back then."

"The torture he went through?" Kensi asked.

"No the torture he did back in the desert to save you. I don't know all the details of what happened, he wouldn't tell me anything case related, he never does. I could tell something was wrong though when we spoke and he told me the basics."

"What are you talking about? There was no torture in the desert." Sam said confused.

They all looked at each other and they all had the same confused look on their faces. Kensi was the worst; she didn't even ask them how they figured out who to trade for her place. She didn't have any interest in finding out how they got her free, she was just happy that they did.

"He never told you." Ray said slightly shocked.

"Told us what? What do you know Ray?" Sam demanded.

"Deeks doesn't tell me about any operations with you. He has in the past with LAPD, but never with you guys. There was only twice he ever talked about an operation in the vague sense, when he was tortured and what happened when you all went to get Wikipedia back. I don't know the whole story I just know that at some point he saw a picture of Kensi being dead. He got angry and he knew he had to do something to get the guy to talk. He was going to bring you back home no matter what, dead or alive. He believed you were alive, but seeing the picture showed him that he needed to do something to get closer to you. He water boarded some man for about two minutes before he stopped." Ray said.

"He never said anything." Kensi said softly.

"He didn't say anything to any of us." Callen said.

"He could have told us. He knows I've been in war zones, I would have understood. He saved all of our lives by coming up with that plan. How he got to that plan it doesn't matter, we're alive because of him." Sam said.

"He was tortured himself; to do it to someone else would have been a serious problem for Marty." Nate said.

"It was. It brought back the nightmares from what happened to him and his father. He was terrified that he was like his father. Marty had always wondered if it would happen, that one day he would wake up and be him. Marty told me once that you aren't born like that; the world makes you into that person. He didn't know what happened to his father to make him like that, but it scared the hell out of him that he could be that person. He's done a lot of bad things before undercover, but it was easy for him to separate who he was undercover and who he is. This time around he did this as himself and not some alias. It took him a couple of weeks before he began to accept it. The man said something while it happened and that led him to being able to do the prisoner exchange. What I think scared him most wasn't that he did it, it was that he would do it again if it meant any of your lives."

"It's something any of us would have done." Callen said.

"The difference is that Deeks' mind isn't able to handle that type of situation. He's not a solider." Sam said.

"He never said anything to me." Kensi said softly.

"He never would have. Deeks was more concerned about how you were doing after what happened to you. He would never have put his feelings before yours. He still could have told me or Callen though; we would have understood and been there for him." Sam said.

"It probably all comes down to him being afraid of what we would say. He looks at us like older brothers, he wants to make us proud and have our respect. Telling us that he tortured someone, even for two minutes, to Deeks it would have felt like hours. He would have been terrified that we would think he was a monster and lose our respect. So he kept quiet and just bottled it up like he does with everything else that bothers him." Callen said.

"It's something that Marty has been forced to get used to. His father would have abused him more for the times that Marty spoke about his feelings or showed weakness. Hiding those darker thoughts and emotions is just programmed into him. It's why he makes a great undercover agent; he's used to being someone else for most of his life. Being a complete stranger is easy for him, it's being himself that is difficult." Nate said.

"Ray, what about around the time he was sixteen and there was that car accident? What was he like then?" Granger asked trying to get them back on track. Granger didn't know about the torture either, but he wasn't about to hold it against Deeks. They were going to die up on that hill and because of what Deeks did they survived and got Kensi back home. Granger wasn't a man that would hold a grudge or punish someone over something like this.

"The car crash really freaked him out. He found out that the break lines were cut so that helped to ease some of the guilt off, but it still affected him. The man and woman were killed because of the car crash. Marty always believed that if he didn't steal the car and drive drunk then maybe they would still be alive. Even when all of the charges got dropped, except for the DUI he still felt guilty. He didn't drink as much after that and he started to get on the straight and narrow. He still ran with the gangs though, but he didn't get caught he was more careful. Before he didn't care if he got caught or not, I mean for us street kids you go to jail it's like going to the Ritz. You get a hot shower, three squares a day, movie every Sunday. And the best part is that your parents can't touch you. We were all happy to go to jail back then."

"But after he became more cautious?" Nate asked.

"He did. I had no idea he was that good at being able to do this on the down low. If he didn't want to get caught, he didn't get caught. At the same time though, he started to go to school every day and he graduated high school at the top of his class. He then went to law school which shocked the hell out of me. I don't know how he did it, I mean with the brain damage he struggled. He would go days without sleep just to get a report done, which didn't help his mind any. He's dyslexic so the more tired he gets the more the words scramble in his brain to the point where he can't even read. He was always exhausted for five years straight. I thought he was going to die at one point from just exhaustion alone. He pulled it off though and he was really proud of himself. I went to his graduation and we went out to party like rock stars afterwards. From the time he went into law school he stayed away from the streets. He only went back when he became an undercover cop."

"Why did he become a lawyer though? If he had so much trouble with the reading plus his lifestyle before, being a lawyer seems a little weird." Kensi asked.

"He said he wanted to help people. He wanted to help put criminals away. It's the same reason why he wanted to be a cop. He was sick of the justice system failing because of bad police work. He wanted to be a cop so he could put bad guys away and make sure there was no room for them to get out. He loves being a cop, he used to at least. Ever since he was tortured it's been taking a toll on him. Too many undercover operations I think. It was getting to him."

"It's natural for anyone to be struggling after everything that Marty has been through in his life. Being hundreds of different people would be difficult for even the strongest mind. Marty needs to get out of the undercover business and just focus on investigations before his mind fractures and he is unable to go back to being himself and not the alias." Nate said.

"What did people on the street call him?" Callen asked.

"One of the other guys in our group when Marty first started to hang with us, was also named Marty. So we used to just call Marty, M. That stuck with people outside of our circle so everyone called him M until he was sixteen and then he got called Max Gentry."

"Did you ever ask him why?" Kensi asked.

"Ya he said he didn't want people to know his real name so he couldn't ever be snitched out. He also liked to know that people from the gangs knew him as Max, but the people in school knew him as Marty. He was trying to better himself and he didn't want all the baggage that came with Max to affect his potentially good life. It made sense to me so I went along with it. Even after we lost touch during his first year as a rookie whenever someone asked me about him I always stuck with Max. I always kept his cover no matter what."

"Was there ever an adult around him when he was sixteen? Someone that came up to him out of nowhere, but was there more than once?" Sam asked.

"No I mean we were always careful to keep an eye out for any cops or anyone watching. Marty was always better than I was. No one ever seemed out of place or he would have said something. It doesn't make sense to me that Marty was being stalked, I mean he's always been observant. He had cop eyes from the time he was ten. He could take one look around the street and know who was there and what they looked like. He would have noticed the same person being around him. Maybe this guy changed what he looked like to hide better." Ray suggested.

"It's possible that he did just that. Ten years is a long time to stalk someone. He would have had to change what he looked like to make sure he stayed hidden, to blend in to the environment that Deeks was in." Callen said.

"You said you got photos from ten years ago. Can you track the paper or the type of camera?" Ray asked.

"We're working on it, but so far it's a dead end. There's hundreds of thousands of people who have purchased the type of paper and the photos don't point to a specific camera yet." Eric explained.

"He could be printing the photos himself for all we know." Kensi said.

"I want to help I just don't know what I could help you with." Ray said sadly.

"You know Mr. Deeks the best out of anyone. Perhaps you would be able to help us figure out these clues that he left behind for us." Hetty said.

"I'll try my best."

"Deeks left eleven different books in eleven different safety deposit boxes all under different names. There's nothing in the books though." Sam said.

"What type of books like novels or notebooks?" Ray asked looking for clarification.

"Novels, fiction about murder investigations." Kensi said.

"He likes to read murder investigations, he likes to try and figure out who the killer is before the end of the book. Do the books have anything to do with the name they were kept under?"

"We haven't been able to figure out one. They were under an alias that Deeks has been, but nothing in the books points to anything that alias did for an operation." Callen said.

"So there must be something in the book. Is there any letters or words that were circled or marked?"

"No the books are unmarked." Sam said.

"I don't know then. If he left the books there then there's a reason for it. There's something about the books that meant something to Marty. Do any of the books have anything similar in them?"

"Not that we know of we'll have to go back through them and try and see if a situation occurs in all of them." Callen said.

"I'm afraid I can't really help you out much. I can tell you that Marty wouldn't leave those books for no reason, there's something in them. Most likely a clue. I can tell you he's moved thirteen times in the last ten years. He always moves to a place near the beach though so if he was being stalked for ten years this person must be keeping a close eye on him because he would have found out where he lived each time." Ray suggested.

"Do you know how many times he's changed his cell phone number?" Callen asked.

"In ten years? Almost thirty times. He always said it was from a case. He had to make sure that when he went on too many operations to change the number just in case. He had other phones through LAPD for other aliases that he turned back in each time. Maybe they have something on them?"

"I'll speak with Mr. Bates and see if he can recover those phones. Perhaps those phones connected to these aliases have something on them." Hetty said.

"Ray, were you aware that Deeks had purchases a condo when he was nineteen?" Granger took the risk in asking.

"Marty?" Ray let out a chuckle. "You're kidding right?"

"No he had a two million dollar condo in the name of Martin Brandel. He purchased it out right when he was nineteen." Kensi said.

"Wow, apparently there were things that he didn't even tell me about himself. No I had no idea. He doesn't seem like the type to want a two million dollar condo. How the hell could he even afford that?"

"He wouldn't have been able to tell you everything. Deeks was working, is working, for the C.I.A. That car crash that Deeks had wasn't so black and white. The man and woman were already killed, shot in the head, before Deeks hit their car. An Agent Anderson had bailed Deeks out and recruited him to be an undercover agent at just sixteen. He even went as far as putting in a specialized microchip to make it so that Deeks couldn't speak about being in the C.I.A. He probably kept the condo from you to keep you safe." Kensi said.

"A microchip? Wait from like surgery?" Ray asked and they could tell that something clicked in his head.

"He would have needed surgery; it's on the base of his neck, his brain stem." Eric said.

"After the crash he was arrested right at the scene and brought down to the piggy house. He spent the night there and then in the morning he went to the court house. He was released on bail and it was anonymous, we just thought one of the gang leaders or major drug dealers bailed him out to get him back to the street and working. Within two days after he was released on bail the charges were dropped except the DUI which he just got a fine for. The next day he went to the hospital told me he needed to have surgery on his neck because of the crash it messed his neck up. I wanted to go with him, but he said he was fine that he would call me afterwards and when he could be released if I could pick him up. I went anyways though. He spent a week in the hospital and I went by every day to see him and sneak him in food. When he was cleared to leave I picked him up and he never had any problems after it. I kept an eye on him just in case, cause it was his neck right."

"What hospital?" Nell asked.

"Jefferson Memorial." Ray answered.

"Do you remember the doctor?" Kensi asked.

"Um ya he had two. This one doctor she was younger, just a student she was hot as hell. Dr. Kathryn Bell and this old mean bastard of a doctor, Dr. George Thomas. I never liked him he was too mean and too private. I would just ask him if the surgery went well and what needed to be fixed and he would bite my head off about confidentiality. He rubbed me the wrong way, but Marty said to just leave it. That some doctors were just assholes. The girl was nice though and really sweet, she didn't seem to agree with what Dr. Dick was saying and doing. I saw them once arguing in the hallway before Marty went into surgery." Ray explained.

"So maybe Dr. Bell had a problem with implanting a microchip into someone, especially someone just sixteen." Callen said.

"How did they get passed that to begin with? Deeks was only sixteen even with his consent they would have needed his mother's consent." Kensi said.

"His mother was a drug addict. You get her high enough she'll sign anything. Marty did it all the time for things he needed for school." Ray said.

"So that wouldn't have been hard and if the good doctor was working with Agent Anderson for the C.I.A he wouldn't have cared as long as the papers were signed." Sam said.

"We can't find Agent Anderson yet, but maybe we can find these doctors. Eric, Nell try and locate them so we can talk to them about this surgery." Callen said.

"They might not talk even if we can find them. Confidentiality laws." Granger said.

"We can make them talk. We can be very persuasive." Kensi said.

"I'm not saying we don't try, but if we are going to speak to them it might help if we had something on them." Granger said as he looked over to Eric and Nell.

"We're on it." Eric said.

"We also need to find Marty's mother. Ray do you know where she might be living?" Nate asked.

"Same dump she's been living in since Marty was born." Ray answered.

"His childhood home." Kensi stated.

"Yup, ten whole blocks away from where he lives now." Ray said.

"Ten blocks that's it?" Sam asked surprised.

"He's in the nicer part of the beachfront, but ya just ten blocks from hell. I don't know why he did that, but he's never lived too far from the beach or from his mother. I think part of him feels guilty for leaving her and the other part has this false hope that one day she'll grow up and be a mother. It'll never happen, even when you tell her he's been missing for six months, she won't care. You got to be careful though who you talk to around there. A lot of people know Marty as Max, you could blow the cover completely off and then half of this city will be looking to kill him."

"We'll be careful of what we say to people, even his mother." Callen assured Ray.

"Marty is tough, he'll fight for as long as he can. He won't want to leave this place he has too much to live for. Do me a favor when you do find him, put his ass on a plane the minute he's cleared to travel. He can come surf the waves down here in Miami for a while."

"We'll make sure that happens; might even join him." Sam said.

"The more the merrier. Little Marty needs to meet his Godfather in person." Ray said with a smile.

"You named your son Marty?" Kensi asked.

"Hell ya I did. Marty saved my life and I saved his. We always swore that our children would know each other and they would always know what a family feels like. It's why he won't stop fighting for his life, he can't let little Marty down."

"We'll find him Ray and when he is healthy we will all take a vacation and come down and meet the newest member to the family. Deeks is tough, he's tougher than people give him credit for, he's going to fight and he's going to survive, because he doesn't know how to do anything else. We'll find him." Sam said in a serious voice.

"I know you will, I just hate not being able to do anything." Ray said.

"You've helped a lot Ray with the background information. We have a better idea of who Marty was growing up and now we have two other people we can speak to. You also gave us his mother's address which we didn't have until we spoke to you. You've helped us." Nate said.

"I think that is all for now Ray and thank-you for your time. If something comes up that we need to speak to you about or we find him I will call you personally." Hetty said.

"Thanks and good luck." Ray said with a small wave.

Eric ended the call and everyone in the room had a new refreshed face. They now had three more people they could speak to and try to get more pieces of the puzzle.

"While Mr. Beale and Ms. Jones are tracking down the doctors, why don't you four go and speak with Miss. Deeks and find out what you can from her. I don't know what use it will be, but maybe this has something to do with her." Hetty said.

"We'll go and speak to her. Eric let us know where the doctors are so we can pick them up and bring them to the boatshed. Maybe that will put them in the mood to talk." Callen said.

"We're on it." Eric said for both him and Nell.

"Let's go." Callen said.

The four of them headed out of the Ops center and down to their cars. Nate went with Kensi in her car and Callen and Sam went to Sam's charger. They headed out to go and speak to Deeks' mother a woman they didn't even know existed until a few hours ago. They didn't know what it was going to be like to speak to her or what condition she would be in, but it was something that had them all on edge for. This was the woman who Deeks was supposed to call mother, mom, but from what they had heard so far she was just another monster in his nightmare of a life. That in itself had them all hot with anger before they even pulled out of the parking lot.


End file.
